My Little Toa: Friendship is Destiny
by Epsilon the Mighty Walrus
Summary: By a chanceful mishap, Mata Nui is sent to Equestria, instead of Bara Magna! Accident, or destiny? And what will happen when evil and good accidentally follow him? Rated T for possible cussing in later episodes. Currently under renovation due to my own character flaws.
1. Introduction

A lone object floated aloft through space. It was a metal mask, golden in color, depicting a humanoid figure upon the face plate. Within the helmet-like object, a spirit of a god-like being was trapped. After an evil being had stole his body, his spirit had been put in the mask, and then, it was ejected from the 40 million foot body of the being, flying fast out of the atmosphere. A single thought escaped the mask, reaching out to no one's hearing ears.

"I shall return," said the voice of Mata Nui, the Great Spirit of the Matoran universe, which existed within the giant metal shell of his old body. "I shall save you all..." the voice trailed off. After floating through the void for a short time, a small meteor, about the size of a car, came by, and the mask bounced off, thrown off course. Instead of flying towards Bara Magna, it was hurtling toward another planet nearby. As it entered the atmosphere, it could only think as to what could happen, maybe burn up in the atmosphere, or shatter on impact...

* * *

"Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle," said a purple equine, whose name was Twilight. A small green dragon, by the name of Spike, was writing with a quill on a parchment.

"Twi-light, Spar-kle! got it!" he said, as he rolled up the scroll. "Great! send it," she said.

Spike Immediatly got a questioning look. "Now?" he asked her. "Of course," she said, wanting the Princess to recieve her important letter.

"Eh, I don't know, Twilight," he said, "Princess Celestia's busy getting ready for the summer sun celebration. and it's like, the day after tomorrow!"

Twilight popped up in his face. "That's just it, Spike," she said, "the day after tomorrow is the 1000th year of the summer sun celebration!" she looked up, then back. "It's imperative that the Princess is told right away!" He began scribbling again.

"Impera- imper-" Twilight was now becoming mad. "IMPORTANT!" she shouted, causing Spike to fly backwards into the bookshelf.

"Okay, okay," he said. He took in a deep breath, and blew fire onto the scroll. It turned into a puff of magic, and flew out the window.

"There. it's on its way," Spike said, "but I wouldn't hold ur bre~ath," he said in a sing-song voice, taunting her slightly.

"Oh, I'm not worried Spike, the Princess trusts me completely," Twilight said,"In all the years she's been my mentor, she's never once doubted me," she finished, cockily. Spike's face puffed up, and he burped out another scroll. "I knew she'd want to take immediate action," Twilight said, as the scroll fell to the floor.

Spike picked it up, cleared his throat loudly, and began reading. _"My dearest, and most faithful student, Twilight, you know i value your diligence, and I trust you completely. But you simply must stop reading those dusty, old books," _Twilight gasped at this.

All at once, Spike stopped. "Hey, I don't remember a meteor shower being scheduled for today," he said, noticing a bright red streak flying across the sky. This was abnormal, as the Princess herself would have made an announcement about such an important astronomical event occuring, much like with the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Nonetheless, Twilight looked, and ignored it, still upset about the Princess' remark.

* * *

Little did she know, this was the Mask of Life, the very mask Mata Nui resided in at the moment. She had no idea that their lives would become entwined together. Mata Nui was destined to learn of the Magic of Friendship, along side Twilight, and a group of friends who would join her along the way, and Twilight would learn the Toa Code, and go far beyond what she would ever expect to become a hero to the whole of Equestria.

And these three words, would be their guide, through friendship, through hard and happy times, and against several of the greatest threats to ever grace the universe as a whole:

_**UNITY, DUTY, DESTINY!**_


	2. Chapter 1: Mare in The Moon

_**Precursor note: For anyone who may have read my story before, you may wish to reread. I have altered my story slightly, to give Mata Nui a darker tone, as I had been going off of my own personal reactions(I mean, who wouldn't laugh with a bunch of giggling ponies?) and wished to change him, feeling he'd be more fit as a less friendly, more angry person. So, that is my suggestion to you all. P.S., Sorry for all the rapid-fire reloads.**_

Mata Nui had been spotted _very_ high up by the few ponies and the one dragon who'd happened to take notice, but Due to Equestria being a large planet, it had a large atmosphere, and this was making for a slow entry to the planet for Mata Nui. Eventually, he'd still hit the surface, but it'd be a while. He began to contemplate a toa form, to examplify his grand stature.

* * *

_"My dear Twilight," _Spike read from the letter, as they rode a chariot towards an unnamed location, _"There is more to a young ponies' life than studying! So, I'm sending you to supervise preparations for the summer sun celebration, in this year's location, ponyville." _The aformentioned destination appeared through a break in the clouds. _"And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete. Make some friends!" _Twilight groaned in annoyance. "Look on the bright side, Twilight! The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library," said Spike, attempting to cheer her up. "Doesn't that make you happy?"

She stared forlongingly into the distance, and then suddenly jumped up. "Yes, yes it does," she said, "you know why? 'Cause I'm right!" She began to think out loud. "I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return," she planned.

Spike spoke up, "Then when will you make friends, like the princess said," he asked. "She said, to check up on preparations," said Twilight, "and as her student, I'll do my royal duties. But the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends."

The carriage came to a halt on the ground, the two guards neighing. "Thank you, sirs," Twilight said to the two pegasi. They both smiled, and snorted in response.

"Maybe the ponies here in ponyville have interesting things to talk about," Spike reassured. A bright pink pony trounced up towards her, smiling. "C'mon, Twilight, just try," Spike backed. Twilight looked up, a little nervous, and spoke. "uh, hi?" Quite suddenly, she exploded in a horrifically loud gasp, and took off, sounding like a jet engine as she flew away.

Twilight got a general look of confusion, and spoke,"Well, **that** was interesting, all right," she said, utterly confused. Spike sighed in exasperation, and proceeded to follow her.

All at once, a massive explosion rang out, like a bomb had just went off. "Twilight!" Spike proceeded to wrap himself around Twilight's head, comically. Twilight sighed, shook him off, and said, "We should go check that out. I haven't a clue what that was."

* * *

He was in a strange world. He felt like he was burning, but he had no body from which to feel it, only the mask. Through his general sense, he could sense a few insect-like beings, approach him. It was strange, they appeared to be typical rahi, formed of protodermis. One insect climbed down, and touched the mask. The mask glowed brightly, and sent out a wave of energy. It was then lifted into the air, as if by magic, and began to pull in molecules surrounding the mask. It formed a body, and with it, armor to protect it, and, as Mata Nui had decided, two large plates with which to denote his high-ranked stature. After this, electricity formed a pathway to give this body the very soul that would inhabit it for the remainder of its time. At last, it was placed to the earth, and the newly-formed being looked up, testing biological muscles it had never before owned, and looked around.

It appeared he was in a crater, presumably from his entry, which was rather...explosive, to say the least. He didn't seem to understand yet that he was only about 6 feet tall, and took a step. Normally he would've gone an grand number of miles with this single movement, but Mata Nui's first step only went about a half-foot. He wobbled a bit, and took another step. And another, and another. He got braver, and picked up his pace a bit. After his 3rd step, he nearly stepped on the insect.

It cowered in fear below him, fearing for it's life. Mata Nui's faceplate unlocked and opened, and he spoke.

"Sorry, little one," He said, doing his best not to scare it. "You may have noticed, I'm not steady on my feet yet." The insect began to make a wild series of clicking and snapping noises. "I have the feeling you're trying to tell me something," Mata Nui said, as he looked down at the insect. He knelt down, and held down his hand, trying to entreat it to climb on. "Easy. I will not hurt you," he spoke softly. It fluttered up his hand, clicking all the way, and observed the mask closely. "Ah, it's the mask you're interested in," Mata Nui said, wondering what the insect could know of the mask. Then, the insect poked the mask. He felt his face glow, and gasped. The insect climbed down to his hand, and gathered energy, finally flashing brightly.

When he could see again, Mata Nui was looking at a shield-like object, with two green eye-like spots on each side, and four points, two coming up at the top and bottom of the shield. He then exclaimed, "Magnificent!...which you can see. for, yourself," he said, surprised when the eye-shape blinked at him. Suddenly, he turned, as he saw a shadow form from behind him, to in front of him.

He gasped, as a large scorpion-lion fusion sceeched, and then leapt towards him. It appeared the mask had attempted to make another guardian for it, and, again, it had gone wrong. Having never fought before, Mata Nui knew little more that to raise his shield, and hope for the best. He pulled the bug-shield-weapon-hybrid up, and hunkered down for a second. The Bio-organic hybrid slammed into the shield, and threw him backwards. As he landed on his back, the creature was already making a move, attempting to sting him. He rolled to one side, dodging one hit from the stinger, then rolled to dodge another, and another still. Finally, the rahi attempted this sting one more time, with a larger amount of force. Mata Nui gasped, and rose the shield.

The stinger of the scorpion slammed into the shield, and was ripped out. The scorpionoid began screeching, and ran out of the pit. Mata Nui released a sigh of relief, and opened his faceplate. Then, the shield returned to bug form with a flash, and made several chattering sound. "Before this day, I've never needed help from anyone, or anything. Thank you," he said, and dropped to one knee.

"Well, little one, I spared your life. You saved mine. Shall we call it even and go our separate ways," Mata Nui proposed. Instead, the insect bounced up his arm, and chattered quickly. "Ok, ok, easy. it was just a-" Mata Nui was suddenly interrupted. "H-hello?" came a voice above him. As if on instinct, he rolled forward, grabbed the stinger, and assumed a defensive stance. Then he took a look at his second "attacker".

He was looking at something which appeared similar to a Kane-ra, but much smaller, lacking horns, or back tracks, for that matter, and purple-colored. It had a portion of hair with a pink stripe in it running down it's neck. "Who, or, what are you?" said the Nui's mind exploded. Not only did this creature possess a language, but it seemed to possess matoran language. He'd later learn that the mask had scanned the being's mind, and given him every ounce of linguistic knoweldge the pony had.

"Long story short, I'm not of this world," he spoke. "Well, I figure, since you did fall from the sky," the quadruped pointed up. Mata Nui lost his defensive pose, and attempted to climb out of the hole. After a bit of trying, he succeeded.

He got a better look up close. This Rahi-formed being seemed passive, caring even, and he decided she could possibly be trusted. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you," Twilight said, holding up a hoof. After a second, it clicked, and he dropped to one knee, grabbed her hoof, and shook it slowly. "I'm... Mata Nui," he said, slightly hesitant, but finally trusting her. "This is Spike, my assistant," she said, pointing with a hoof to an even smaller creature, similar to a very small Kanohi Dragon. Mata Nui stayed on one knee, and said," Nice to meet you, too, Spike."

"Well, since I'm guessing you can't really go anywhere in specific, would you like to come with me whilst I do business around town," Twilight said to him.

He pondered this for a moment, contemplating her offer. Eventually deciding by his lack of knowledge as to this world, he agreed, "Fair enough, Twilight, I shall come along."

"Well then, let's get moving," Twilight announced


	3. Chapter 2: The Elements of Harmony

I was having a strange day, to say the least. My original body stolen, my spirit sent through the universe. Topping it off was the fact that my current allies were a small Rahi-insect(Who'd saved my life), a baby intelligent fire-breathing rahi, and a sentient being whose origins I was not familiar with. Well, better than simply smashing against a rock and my essence disappearing.

Twilight Sparkle was the "pony's" name, that is apparently the species' name, and she and her young "dragon" assistant, Spike, were supervising a special celebration for their leader, Princess Celestia, who apparently had the power to raise and lower their sun and moon. I wasn't surprised, I had moved entire solar systems before, but I digress. Twilight's directly appointed position , from the princess herself, was to check on all the accommodations for the party. So far, we'd checked on the food, and there, I'd met a pony named Applejack.

Applejack was, quaint, to say the least. She seemed trustworthy, and she was very supportive of friends. I respected her truthful ways, and believed she was a very kind being,albeit she didn't like my slight withdrawal. She was bright orange, with golden hair, tied into "ponytails"(how ironic), and she typically wore a hat with a wide brim. I think she referred to it as a "Cowcolt's Hat". Either way, she seemed quite kind. Twilight, Spike, and I were making our way around, Twilight having a Expanded stomach, and she spoke up, "I had too much pie." I chuckled, and remembered how today had been my first meal _ever._

Food was amazing, apples especially were interesting, but I had other things on my mind. Why was I here? I know destiny is a tricky thing, but how was I meant to land on a planet full of "ponies" and dragons? My guess was as good as the next being's. "Hmm, There's supposed to be a pegasus pony named rainbow dash around here clearing the clouds," Spike spoke up, as he read from his list of things to do.

I looked around. "How does a Pe-geese-us clear clouds? Aren't clouds made of moisture?" I said, honestly confused.

"It's how their genetic makeup works. They can touch and stand on clouds. How, is anyone's guess," Twilight informed me with this sentence. "Also, it's pronounced 'Pegasus'."

"Ah. With that, where is this pegasus? She doesn't look like she's doing a good job here," I said, and, as if on que, she came barreling at me. I ducked, and she nailed Twilight, who landed in a big mud puddle.

They sat there a moment, dazed, and Twilight moaned in annoyance. The cyan-colored pegasus had a rainbow-colored mane, as was her tail. She stood up, and chuckled nervously, probably afraid of her reaction.

"Uh, excuse me?" She said, in a meager attempt to retribute herself, as she smiled a face-ripping smile. She chuckled a bit more, and took flight-"Flight? So that's a pegasus' ability, flight. I take it you're this "Rainbow Dash" figure?" I said, unknowing I did at first.

She must not have heard me, as she continued speaking toward Twilight. "Here, let me help you," she said, and flew away for a quick second. She came back, somehow pushing a gray cloud, and then, she _landed_ on it. My mind was boggled slightly, but I temporarily ignored it. She began bouncing on said cloud, and water poured down, soaking Twilight. She looked as if she could kill the pegasus for that.

The pegasus giggled a bit, and said, "Oops, I guess I over-did it. Um, uh, how 'bout this?" she proceeded to spiral around Twilight very fast, causing her to become dry quickly. "My very own, patented, Rain-Blow-Dry." She stopped in midair, and continued as she began to descend. "No, no. Don't thank me. You're quite welcome." She then noticed Twilight's mane, which had become frizzled up, due to the high-speed winds used to blow-dry her hair.

The rainbow-based pegasus attempted to stifle a laugh, doing so poorly, and finally, busted out, laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes. Spike did a similar act, falling on top of Rainbow Dash, tears poking at his eyes. I was surprised, to be frank, I'd never seen such.. I don't have a word for it.

Twilight was about to speak, but I spoke first, showing my irritability, "Not exactly kind to laugh at any being when their misfortune is brought on by you, is it?" She stood up, Spike falling off of her.

"Hey, ease up!" She said, flying into my face. "It's just a little bit of fun, isn't it?" It was now she took a good, long look at me. She looked at me confused. "What are you, anyways? I've never seen something like you before." She punched my shoulder lightly, pulling back out of slight pain, saying, "And made out of metal, at that."

Twilight cut me off, "We've heard that _you_ were supposed to be keeping the sky clear, Ms. Rainbow Dash." She looked away, let out a sigh, and looked back with a smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather." Rainbow stopped staring at me, and jetted up, flopping on a cloud.

"Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy, just as soon as I'm done practicing," she said, self-confident.

"What's important enough that you ignore an order from a ruler? And more importantly, doesn't Twilight deserve the right to have an apology?" I said, unaware of their princess's kindness, and still upset.

She looked over the cloud at me. "Don't push it." I scowled, really not liking her manner. She then pointed a hoof, not entirely understanding my question, and I followed her gaze as she said, "And they are theThe WonderBolts! They're gonna perform at the celebration tomorrow." She did a quick backflip, and landed back on her cloud. "And I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!"

"What exactly are these 'Wonderful Bolts' you speak of?" I said, completely lost.

Twilight answered my question inadvertently. "_The_ wonderbolts? The most talented acrobatic ponies in all of Equestria?" She must be taunting her.

I had to crack a smile, smart pony. "That's them!" Rainbow said, unaware of the taunt at first. Twilight continued her mental assault, so to speak, as she scoffed.

"Please! They would never accept a pegasus who can't keep the sky clear for one measly day!" She said. I added to this, "She's right! they're probably training as we speak, and here you are, sitting on a cloud.'

Rainbow turned around, with an angered face. "Hey! I could clear this sky in ten seconds _flat!" _She challenged, mostly at me.

I smirked at her, already formulating a possibly dangerous plan. "And I bet you I can clear it faster, my dear." She scowled at me, and flew down.

She jabbed me with a hoof-tip, and shouted, "How are you gonna do _That!?_ You have no wings!" Then, she realized the glow of the Mask, and stared at my face. I recoiled from her, not wanting to hurt her, just show her up. I raised my hands, and two loose beams of energy, similar to tornadoes, came from my hands, and ripped all the clouds out of the sky.

It hadn't taken more than two seconds for me to do that, so obviously, their jaws dropped. As the mask cooled down, I could feel fatigue slightly, knowing that had also partly been my spiritual powers.

"Wow," They all said in unison, and Rainbow flew up to me. "Hey, uh, I-I'm sorry for how I was acting, you got me. Can we start over?" I looked her over, and realized she was serious. I softened my face.

"Apologize to Twilight, she's the one needing an apology." Much to my surprise, Rainbow actually did apologize to her. She then turned back to me, and said, "Am I good?" I finally smiled at her, and pet her on the head gently.

"Yes, you are, indeed, good now, Rainbow." She smiled back at me, and flew over to Twilight.

"You also seem pretty cool, Twilight Sparkle," She said to her, who had actually remained frozen with her jaw dropped. "We should hang out sometime, _friend_." Twilight's jaw snapped shut when Rainbow said this, and she froze again. Rainbow flew up in general, and said, "Well, I've gotta split. I'll see you all later." She then swooped down, slowing down near me, and quietly saying, "See ya... _Handsome_." As she took off at full speed again, I had to equate what had just happened.

"Did she just call you handsome? No offense, it's just, you're so different," Spike said, before Twilight gave him a death glare. I held up a hand signaling her to back off a bit.

"I wish I knew what just happened," I said, " I've worn many titles, been called many things, but never 'handsome'. Or 'Friend', for that matter."

"Well, I've never been called pretty before, so we're kinda even," Twilight said, and I contemplated whether or not to toy with her, deciding not.

"I've never seen more majestic creatures anywhere in the universe," I said, under my breath, and then she gave me a strange look, apparently having heard me.

"Anywhere in the universe...?" She trailed off, and I realized I'd said more than I should have. She was looking for me to explain this.

"Uh..." I quickly said, trying to cover my proverbial tracks, before getting an idea, "Where are we headed to next, Spike?"

"A place called the Carousel Boutique," He said, thankfully covering me, unbeknownst to him, "To check on decorations."

* * *

A short time later, we arrived. Spike looked around quickly, and looked back down, saying, "Decorations." I noticed a retreating gaze at his next sentence, meaning something caught his eye. "_beautiful_."

"Yes, the decor is coming along nicely. This oughta be quick," Twilight said, unaware of Spike's true reason for saying it, which I now saw.

"I don't think the decorations are why Spike said 'Beautiful' the way he did," I said, pointing towards a white pony who was currently sorting through ribbons of some kind, using telekinesis, probably with her magic.

"No. No. No. Oh, goods heavens, no." She said, cycling the ribbons past her. Spike appeared to have fallen in love at first sight, hearts seemed to dance in his eyes. He spoke up, "How are my spines? Are they straight?" I chuckled under my breath, never understanding "mortal" deep feelings like love.

Twilight rolled her eyes, and walked up to the pony. "Good afternoon," Twilight said.

The pony turned for a second, and said, "Just a moment, please. I'm in the zone," She said. She must have meant she was focusing on decoration. "Ah, yes," She said, as she settled on a sparkly ribbon,"Sparkle always does the trick, does it not?" She turned at this point, and gasped at me. "Oh, my, what are you?" She commented.

"That, can be told later, as my friend here is in need of a moment with you," I said, not wanting to explain things right now.

"Fair enough. So, how can I help yo-u?!" she slightly squealed as her eyes fell to Twilight's mane.

"Oh, my stars, darling, whatever happened to your" She said a word I'm not familiar with.

Twilight looked lost for a second, then replied, "Oh. You mean, my mane? Well, it's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations, then I'll be out of your hair," She said.

The white pony looked at an odd angle. "Out of my hair, what about _your_ hair?" She questioned. She dashed behind Twilight, and began pushing her.

I had zoned out, thinking about the same thoughts I had been thinking of, my universe, my followers, likely enslaved against the makuta. My fears were rising at the thought of what Makuta Teridax could do, given the time. I broke from my trance when Twilight said, "Wait! Where are you taking me? Help!" As her cry for help reached my orical sensors, I dashed into action, leaping in front of both, and pulling out the stinger from before, saying, "What do you think you're doing?"

She looked at me, like I was crazy, and said, "Oh relax, darling, I'm just giving her a make over," She finished her explanation, and pushed her through the door. "Wait here, Spike, and Mata Nui," Twilight said. I had a feeling this would be a while.

I was slightly right. about 20 minutes later, as I was about to check on her, she tore out of the salon, and grabbed Spike, and took off running. I decided, I should follow her, this white pony made me slightly uncomfortable. I dashed after her, finding her resting a bit a hundred or so feet away.

"Well?" I said, curious as to why she had on an outfit with a big emerald on the chest. She gave me a look that said 'Not Now'. I put my hands up defensively, and sat down.

A while later, after walking towards our final destination, Spike was dreaming and talking to himself. "Wasn't she beautiful?" he asked to no one in particular. Twilight said, "Focus Casanova, What's next on the list?"

He cleared his throat, and said, "Oh, uh, Music! It's the last one!" Twilight smiled at this. Out of nowhere, we heard birds, whistling as if in chorus. We looked through a bush to see what was up, and I felt... something strange occur.

There, hovering in midair, was a yellow pegasus pony, with pink hair, and a pink tail, and she was talking to the birds. I would've turned my orical sensors up, but I was stunned for whatever reason. Twilight came out of the bush to talk to her. Twilight suddenly spoke up, "Hello!" The birds all nearby took off, startled by the purple study pony. This pony herself was startled worse, it seemed.

Twilight suddenly spoke up again, quieter, "Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare your birds away, I'm just hear to check up on the music, and it sounds beautiful," She finished. The yellow pony landed, and pawd the ground shyly. Even being an all-powerful universe ruler, this was enough "cuteness", as one might say, to make me mentally go, 'DAWWW'. I recuperated, and quieted down. It seemed she hadn't noticed me yet.

Twilight cracked a cheesy smile, and did her best to be kind. "I'm Twilight Sparkle," She said. the pony just looked nervous. "What's your name?" she added on. At this, I slightly strained my orical sensors, having a slight feeling she was shy. From her very quiet speech, I made out, "Um... I'm fluttershy..." I chose now to speak up.

"Well, miss Fluttershy, it's a pleasure to meet you," I said in the gentlest way possible. She looked over, and up, and her eyes widened, and she did the exact _opposite_ of what I'd guessed she would have done.

She squealed, out of delight, and flew over, "Oh my gosh, I've never seen something like you! And you talk? This is amazing!"

I was slightly confused. "You seemed so... shy. What changed?" I asked, suddenly feeling that same feeling shifting around, like... insects, perhaps?

"Well, you see, I love caring for animals, and if I find a new species, I simply must learn about them!" she clarified my reasoning.

"I'd... rather not share my past at the moment. Maybe in the future, my acquaintance," I said, being as polite as possible.

She looked a little upset, but got over it. "Ok, there mister..." I filled in the blank, "Mata Nui."

"Mata Nui. Can't say I've ever heard that name before," She said. Nonetheless, she turned back to Twilight, and, Ironically, regained her shyness.

"Well, keep up the good work!" Twilight finished, falling back to talk with Spike. I noticed fluttershy look up, and when she saw Spike, she lost her shy attitude again, and nearly shouted "A baby dragon!" I had to put my hands to my orical sensors, as I had them set to pick up faint sounds, and that sounded like a Klakk screech from that distance.

She ended up catapulting Twilight into the distance, and spoke directly to Spike, "I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's so cute!" I almost felt a hint of jealousy at this remark. _'Wait, jealousy? Is it possible?'_ My brain went on overdrive, trying to compute this. Spike turned with a smirk to Twilight.

"Well, well, well!" he said, possibly acknowledging something. "Oh my, he talks! I didn't know dragons could talk," She continued, "That's just so incredibly wonderful, I-I don't even know what to say!" She began fluttering in midair. Twilight picked Spike up with magic, and said, "Well, in that case, we'd better be going."

Fluttershy ended up following us. I walked behind them, Zoned out of the real world, and into my thoughts.

I formed myself mentally, using the internal medium of, well, myself, to think. _'How possible is it,' _I 'spoke', _'That my transformasion from bio-mechanical to biological has altered how I receive thoughts, computations, and feelings? I've always _understood_ feelings, but I never _possessed _them. Well, time may tell, and who knows, I may understand this more.'_

I noticed we'd gone all the way to the library, and I was surprised. '_I must have been really into my thoughts,_' I mentally said, as I noticed Twilight must have forgot about me. "I take it we're locked out?" I said, as Fluttershy jumped, and said, "Oh, sorry..., I didn't notice you there. Um, no, just wait for Pinkie to yell surprise." I was about to question this, when I heard a very loud "SURPRISE!" from inside.

Instinctively, I went for the doorknob, finding it unlocked, and walked in, and everyone(It surprises me still how many ponies were there) Stopped and stared at me, all except one pink pony, who bounced right up to me, literally. It was here I learned of the party pony, Pinkie Pie.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I-heard-you're-new-here-and-your-made-of-metal-and -you-are-WOW~!" she said, in one long word, essentially. I could not come up with any way at all to respond effortlessly to this greeting.

"Um... hello. I'm... Mata Nui?" I was utterly confused. She turned back to the party, and said, "Don't stop partying yet! Let's mumbo!" At this, the party restarted. I retreated upstairs to have some alone time, still lost in my thoughts. I was trying to understand why I had that feeling around Fluttershy...

A short time later, a very flustered-looking Twilight came up, surprised to see me. "Why are you up here?" She asked me. "I needed time with my thoughts," I responded. She looked at me oddly, asking, "What thoughts?" I could feel a slight blush form on my newly organic face, thanking the great beings my true bodily form was hidden by armor, namely my mask.

I quickly made up a white lie, "Nothing major to be concerned. How about you? How come you're not 'partying', or whatnot?"

She made a noise, and said, "I need my rest for the celebration tomorrow." She hopped up, onto her bed, and covered up.

Over the course of the next couple hours, she tossed and turned as I sat with my thoughts. Eventually, Spike came up, wearing some kind of lamp on his head. "Hey Twilight! Pinkie's starting 'Pin the tail on the pony'!" He picked the shade off his head, "You wanna play?"

She looked at him angrily. "No. All the ponies in this town. Are. CRAZY!" she was obviously very upset. "Do you know what time it is?!"

Spike countered with a bit of knowledge. "It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration! Everypony's gotta stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raising the sun." Twilight gave a forlorn look out the window. "You really should lighten up, Twilight," Spike said, " It's a party." He then noticed me, sitting down, and asked, "Hey Mata Nui, you wanna try it?"

I looked around a bit, and said, "if its okay, I'll remain out. Imagine the longest, weirdest day of your life, and multiply it infinitely." He shrugged, and left the room, leaving a tired Twilight, and a mentally-sabotaged Me, to ourselves.

Shortly later, Spike came up to the room to get me and Twilight, who was still upset about this all. As we went, I noticed the effects of lack of sleep in her eyes. We arrived, and everyone was quiet, save one hyper-as-Karzahni pink pony. "Isn't-this-exciting?aren't-you-excited-I'm-excite d-I've-never-been-so-excited, well, except-for-when-you-first-came-into-town-and-I-was -all-like"She imitated her gasp from yesterday, apparently,"But I mean, really, who can top that?" As I was praying the great beings to cease her babbling, Fluttershy's birds began singing their tune, and a spotlight fell on who I'm guessing was the town mayor.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of ponyville,"'_I was right'_"It is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Everypony cheered loudly for a short time. "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is..." Her voice trailed off from my sensors, as I saw Twilight look worriedly out the window, and I followed her gaze, looking toward the moon. I noticed a pattern in the shape of a mare's head on the moon, and I saw four stars moving closer. When the stars went behind the moon, the shape disappeared with a flash!

'_that can't be good_' I said to my self, and looked back the mayor. "...The very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, The Good, The Wise, The bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!" Rarity, who I just noticed, pulled a rope, opening to curtains. Fluttershy's birds began singing again, and a spotlight dropped to shine apon... Nothing! Rarity gasped. I immediately decided I needed the possible "Higher Ground" advantage, and climbed a nearby scaffold-type Object to the balcony Fluttershy's birds were on. I also happened to notice my insect friend sitting under my chestplate. '_there you are, quite possibly when I need you most._'

The mayor made a desperate attempt to resolve the town before panic, saying something, but I was out of focus. I was intently watching that spot. Waiting...

Time slowed down for me, as I eyed the balcony intently, my hand itching toward my make-shift dagger. I had a feeling a fight was on my hands. My trance was broken when Pinkie screamed. I looked to her, then looked back.

I witnessed an essence flowing forward, resembling makuta Anti-dermis. "Rarity, get away from there!" I shouted, as she moved as far back as she could. From the mist, Appeared a jet-black pony, whose mane was purple, and moved as if it had a mind of its own. She wore some kind of faceplate and Hoof-plating, along with a saddle-like plate, made of a substance that could have only been protosteel. She began to speak in a voice that reminded me of the makuta gorast.

"Oh, my beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your precious, little, _**sun-loving**_ faces,"She said, the last three words dripping with hate.  
Rainbow bravely spoke up, "What have you done with the Princess?!" The dark-colored mare laughed slightly. Rainbow made a move to intercept the dark horse, and Applejack held her back,"Whoa, there, nelly!"

"Why, am I not 'Royal' enough for you?" She said, her evil smile quickly flipping. "Don't you know who I am?" I could not tell her intentions, but i guessed they were as dark as her coat.

Pinkie Pie obviously was oblivious to the danger, and spoke up, "Ooh, more guessing games! Uhm, 'Hokey Smokes'! How 'bout, 'Queen meanie'? No, 'Black Snootie'! Black Snooti'- she was cut short from Applejack shoving an apple in her mouth, which she ate noisily.

The dark uni-pegasus spoke up, "Does my crown no longer count, now that I've been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She got right up into Fluttershy's face, and I was overcome with an obliterant feeling of anger or rage. I took a flying leap from the balcony, as the insect crawled to my hand and turned to shield form.

I shouted, "Leave her be!" and crashed into the horse with a mad kick. She hit the balcony she had been on, as I landed before her. I closed the Mask's mouthplate, and beared in for a hopefully short fight.

She stood up, and said, "How dare you hit a princess? That insolence shall cost you your life!" she made an attempt to ram me with her horn, but I rose my shield to intercept it, and came across her chest with a sharp swipe, which did little more than club her, as the stinger wasn't sharp. I continued my assualt, and finally, she threw me off the ledge with a mighty double-kick from her back legs.

I hit the ground sharply, feeling pain shoot up my spine. The horse jumped down, and attempted to stab me again, to which I rolled to the side, causing her horn to become embedded in the ground. I rolled to my feet, and clubbed the back of her head, and she busted her horn loose. She rose up and fired a magic blast at me, which I deflected with the stinger, and looked at the 15-foot hole in the wall. I was then hit in the chest with another blast, sending my shield across the room.

I slammed into a pillar, bringing it down, as ponies scattered across to the room's other side. The dark horse walked up to me, speaking. "You weren't as powerful as Teridax described you could and would be." This caught me off guard, and I opened my maskplate to speak clearer. "How do you know of Teridax? Tell me, Now!"I said, highly confused, and angered at the same time. "I had a nice, long talk with a being from another planet, claiming if I saw a mask golden in color, and depicting a being with outstretched arms, and did my best to either subdue him, or destroy him, I'd be given a part of his empire. I simply couldn't refuse such a gentlemanly act." I was outraged.

"Teridax is no more a gentleman than I am a pony! He's merely leading you on!" I was attempting to prevent my death, in fear of Teridax Destroying this planet. I rose my head, to speak to everyone else, "If he comes, and no one does anything to stop him, or her" I pointed at the makuta-esque pony "He'll kill everyone!" All the ponies recoiled and murmured amongst themselves.

"I don't believe you," She said simply, and raised a bladed hoof. I rose the blade to my head, hoping to shield my eyes from my own incoming death. But then... something happened, something that was, at first, unexplainable. I saw a bright light through my eyelids, and opened them, seeing I was holding a wickedly curved Broadsword!

The Mask of life! It had used its power to give me a way to defend myself. The Pony seemed dazed, and I took action, sweeping her forelegs with my leg, quickly standing, and slashing at her. This had a far greater effect, as a shallow gouge opened on her chest. She fell back, and I held the blade to her throat. "Concede," I said, demanding she give in. She gave an angry scowl, and suddenly dissipated into purple smoke. As she fled I heard two voices in order. "Remember this day, Ponyville, for it shall be your last, as night shall now reign forever!" She began cackling madly, as I heard a voice which could only belong to The makuta Teridax.

"My brother, still alive? Oh, well, I guess I'll have to crush you under my armored heel when I conquer that planet, with Nightmare Moon at my side." I was filled with anger, and unleashed verbal fury.

"Teridax! I am not your brother in any way, and you have _no _right to say so!" He chuckled, a deep sound like rock grating on ProtoSteel.

"Oh, but am I not the one in the position of power now?" The smoke swirling had now formed my old face's shape in front of me, now Teridax's new face. "After all, ich bin Der Mata Nui, Der Großen Geist*." The language he had spoken in, I recognized it as true Matoran! That would be something to research later.

"You cowardly Stone Rat!" I attempted to slash the mist foring his "head", with it darting back. "How dare you steal my body, and acclaim yourself to my title?! After I gave you life?!"

He laughed again, "Oh, I dared. And look where it got me, dear brother." I had had enough. I rose my sword, channeling the mask's energy through it, and firing it at the mist-formed head before me, searinf g a chunk of it, and it deformed and flew away.

"I shall wreak havoc on all makuta when I return! Mark my words, Teridax, you **WILL** fall!" The cloud dissipated entirely, as I panted, and opened my mouthplate. "How can this be?"

Some random pony spoke up, "Who was that ? What did they want?"

Twilight answered them, "Her name was Nightmare Moon, and she's going to make night reign eternal!" At this, most ponies went into a havoc of their own, running and screaming. Twilight began to leave and I called to her, "Twilight, wait for me!"

Twilight stopped as I ran to her, and she said, "Follow me, we have to get to my house. I have a book which chould explain this all, minus the 'Teridax' figure," as I became slightly nervous.

We got to her house, and she began to cycle her books about the "Elements of Harmony". Suddenly. the rainbow pegasus came up to her face, out of no where. "And just what are the 'Elements of Harmony'? And how did **you** know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a Spy?-Whoa!" she was pulled back by Applejack, who, amongst the others I had met today, had joined us.

"Simmer down, Sally," Applejack said, as Rainbow Dash did a sort of pouty face, "She ain't no spy. But"-Rainbow Dash cut her off looking at me and saying, "What about you, Tin Man, Workin' under the table?"

This struck a nerve with me, as I unsheathed my blade and swung it just above her head, cutting a mid-sized lock of her mane off. "How dare you consider me, a Giver of Life, to be a spy of This Nightmare Moon! Or that thieving Stone rat, Teridax," I said, as my blood boiled. "I swear on the Three Virtues, I'll eviscerate him into Oblivion!" I finished my small tantrum, short of breath, and slowly, I calmed down. Rainbow had became a shade lighter than cyan, and Twilight merely stared at my sword, looking fearful. I flinched, and put my sword back onto its sheath on my back, and said, "Sorry, I haven't had a chance ever to remove any stress from myself."

Applejack began again, "As I was saying, I doubt neither of them are spies, but they've got answers, Right?" they all looked towards us.

I spoke before Twilight, "This is all you really need to know for now: If I don't stop that other being, Teridax, he will kill ALL of you." They all recoiled back, except Rainbow Dash.

"We can take him, come on! I mean, he's only your size, right?" She said. I looked at her, and grabbed her by the muzzle to look at her in the eyes.

"If he were my exact stature as I am now, you would be smaller than a speck of dust." Her eyes widened. I let go and stepped back. "For that matter, Ponyville would not be larger than a speck of dust." I looked closely at her again, and said, "You'd have no chance. I'd have no chance. NO PONY ON THIS PLANET would have a chance." She was almost white by the time I was done.

"The only savior we have," I said, looking out the window to see a familiar looking moon-like world, "Is how advanced that body is. It would be like a pony learning to use a body with 5,000 times the amount of muscles and limbs." I turned back to them. "We have time, and a good bit of it, so, let's take this one step at a time. Twilight, what is it Applejack was asking on?"

Twilight spoke up, after I. "I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her. But I don't know what they are, where to find them, I don't even know what they do!"

Pinkie had moved over to a shelf, and said, "'**The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide**'," She said, reading a title. Twilight barged into her, sending her flying back.

"How did you find that?!" She exclaimed, looking confused. Pinkie responded, in a sing-song voice, "It was under E~E~!"

Twilight gave an annoyed look, and said, "Oh." She proceeded to pull out the book, and open it, flipping pages as everyone looked over her shoulder. I was moreso trying to think of my explanation as to who I was. I was going to say the truth, but I had to think of my wording. I was suddenly brought out of my trance by everyone reluctantly leaving the house. I followed, hoping for an answer as to why I was here.

We eventually ended up at the entrance to this forest, known as the everfree forest. Everyone seemed frightened of it, but I was ready to go to the ends of, well, Equestria, to get my answers. Pinkie, unlike everyone else, began to walk it happily, whilst saying "Whee! let's go!" Twilight suddenly spoke up.

"Not so fast. look," She said, "I appreciate the offer, but, I'd really rather do this on my own."

I spoke up before anyone else could respond. "I don't care who comes with me either way, I'm going to these ruins. I have a feeling I was destined to be here, and these ruins may reveal it." I Said, the others looking my way. I began walking, hearing them speak for a while behind me. Applejack spoke up, talking to Twilight.

"No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go in that place alone!" She said, sealing the deal. "We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple!" All the girls made an agreeing noise.

Pinkie, being herself, said, "Especially if there are caramel apples in there!" Twilight looked at her funny. "What? those things are _Good!_"

They had all eventually trotted to keep up with me, and we began our first journey together.

* * *

We'd been walking a ways, when Twilight spoke up. "So, none of you've ever been in here before?" She asked fearfully. Rarity spoke up first.

"Oh, Goods heavens, no! Just look at this place! It's Dreadful!" She said, Obviously scared.

Applejack added in, "And it ain't natural. Folks say it don't work the same way as Equestria. This seemed to unnerve Twilight, and I spoke up, seeing something out of the corner of my eye, "I think we're being watched. Stay near me." I said, fearing only for their safety. Twilight went on.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She said, asking Applejack how that was.

Rainbow appeared half in the shadows, and said, in a supposedly intimidating and ghostly voice, _"NO PONY KNOWS..._," And she continued, "And do you know why?" Applejack could see Rarity, Pinkie, and most importantly, Fluttershy, Were frightened, and she said, "Rainbow, quiddit!" Rainbow was about to continue, but I stopped her.

"Everyone move, now!" I said, suddenly realizing what I'd seen. They looked at me as if I had spoken a foreign language, but then, the very ground broke from beneath us. I heard Rainbow say, "Fluttershy, Quick!" I saw Rainbow swoop and pick up Pinkie, and Fluttershy grabbed Rarity's tail to save her. Applejack caught a root, and I noticed Twilight was beside me, and we were both sliding uncontrollably.

I saw the edge coming up, and decided she had a destiny to fulfill, even if my own life was at stake, I hoped, perhaps they could stop Teridax. I grabbed her, and pushed her back, at the expense of sending myself down. She stopped, and as time seemed to slow down, I saw her scared face, and she said, "Mata Nui! NO!" Then, time sped back up, as I maneuvered in midair to not see my death coming. I suddenly felt an incredible pain, as I slammed into the ground full force. Then my ears began ringing, and finally, all I saw was darkness.

* * *

_MATA NUI'S DREAM_

* * *

_I was standing in a field, looking at a sunset. I could see my new friends, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and, Of course, Fluttershy. I suddenly saw a shadow cover them, and Teridax's face appeared, eyes glowing brightly. "I'm coming, brother, and soon, your friends, and Your" he chuckled hoarsely "love, Fluttershy, will all perish by my hands..."_

_Suddenly, I was Standing before my very creators, the Great Beings. __"When you awake, you will believe this to be a dream. Rest assured, it isn't. We came to you due to your predicament," said Angonce, unofficial leader of the Great Beings._

_I was baffled for a bit, but Angonce continued. "Makuta Teridax, Who stole your body, is intent of going to your home planet, Spherus Magna, and is going to conqeur it, then come to that planet, Equestrus Magna, and conquer it, and with it, destroy you. We sensed your plausible death, and decided we needed to tell you: there's a prototype machine, slightly beneath the planet's surface, a prototype version of you. It was built here, as we originally didn't care for these inhabitants, although we do now. This robot was christened, "Chardon Nui_"(A/N, Pronounced Karton Nui, chardon being matoran for powerful, or almighty)_, the All-mighty Spirit. The body is smaller, but the power is greater than your previous form. We havn't been here in over one-hundred-thousand years, so where it is, that's your journey to find out." they began to fade from view, as I felt my spirit moving..._

* * *

Amazingly, I woke up, barely able to move. I could feel The six girls sitting around me, as they hadn't known I was alive, and they were all crying. I then felt a pressure on my chest, Fluttershy, bawling her eyes out. So much pain came from her heart, for whatever reason, that I could feel it myself. I decided, there and then, That if I failed these ponies, I hadn't followed my own virtues. _'Unity...'_ I could feel my body respond more to my will. _'DUTY...'_ I began making every ounce of energy into one movement, to jumpstart my now still heart. _'DESTINY!__' _I forced my hand to move, suddenly, my feeling came back, and I quite violently took in a sharp breath, feeling the circulatory muscle in my chest kick off. Fluttershy, who'd been thrown slightly back when I'd bolted upright, suddenly latched onto me, and started crying more, which I didn't understand.

"Mata Nui! You're alive!" She and Twilight said in unison, and everyone helped me stay sitting up. My body still protested, and as I looked up, I saw why. I fell from what was, easily, A hundred foot cliff! "I was soo worried," Fluttershy said, and then, She blushed slightly, realising what she'd said.

Rainbow suddenly gave a slightly suggestive look, and said, "Oh, you were worried?" She said, in a taunting way.

I spoke up, "Now isn't the time, Rainbow." I looked to the sky, still being able to faintly see the water-blue planet-moon. I looked back down, and said, "I had a dream, A significant dream, one that may have just determined this world's future. We NEED to get to those ruins." I then stood up, my every muscle agonizingly painful, but knowing I needed to fight on. I noticed a purple mist retreating, and knew that Nightmare Moon was trying to deter us.

I forced myself to walk, and said," Let's go." We began moving towards our next area.

* * *

As we walked, My sonic sensors picked up a loud sound, a roar, and I stopped in my tracks. Twilight looked at me, and asked "what's wrong? Did you see something?" I gave her a slightly worried look.

"No, I _heard _something," I said, not sure if my body could take a fight after that fall. Suddenly, a massive creature sprang forth, and I could tell immediately, it was not all one creature, as its parts were too mix-matched. Twilight suddenly shouted, "A manticore!" I was startled by it, and my bug partner transformed, signaling me on what to do. I drew my sword, closed my maskplate, and crouched, feeling my body wanting me to stop, but I refused, for my friends' sake!

"Everyone-"They gave me the same look as before, and I figured it out-"Every_pony _listen up! I have a plan, but I need a distraction. Rainbow, go left, and focus its attention that way, I need to get to its back!" She nodded, and took off. I rushed to its right, and it attempted to slash my chest, and I jumped back, smacking its face with the sharp edge, finding out that it had thick skin, as a deep gash on its cheek didn't go all the way through. It looked at me, and attempted to sting me, as I raised the shield, blocking a possibly deadly strike. I heard fluttershy say something, but I couldn't hear her.

I ducked under another strike from a claw, and hit its chest with my shield, winding it slightly. I jumped back, and shouted, "Rainbow, where's that distraction?" She suddenly appeared with a small boulder held between her front hooves. "right here!" She said, smacking against a hill made of gravel. I saw her plan take effect, as the beast looked left, turning. I made my move, leaping up to its tail, and then onto its back. I saw its tail raised, and put my shield on my back. My plan worked, as every attempt to hit me failed. I noticed Rarity kick its face, and everyone charged, except Fluttershy.

"STOOOP!" She screamed incredibly loudly, as I had just put my sword around the beast's neck, ready to end it's life. When I stopped, its tail came under my backplate, and launched me forward, and as I landed it came towards me, claw raised. I closed my eyes, and awaited a death blow. It never came.

I opened my eyes to see Fluttershy somehow stopping it by praising it. I noticed she'd pulled a thorn out of its paw, and was currently being licked on the head, as the Manticore purred loudly. I chuckled, standing up to retrieve my sword and my small bug-friend, who clicked victoriously. "You know, I still haven't named my little friend here," I said, and Fluttershy floated up.

"How about... Click? It fits him, just listen to him celebrating, in his own way," She said, cracking a smile.

"Hmm." I thought for a moment. "I like it. 'Click' it is!," I said, as the bug made a chirping sound, similar to a combination of a cricket, and snapping.

I walked over to the manticore, and it growled a bit, but I simply put my hand on its forehead, petting it slightly, and said," Don't worry. I am sorry for our altercation. I will forgive you, if I am forgiven." I got a response I hadn't been expecting.

_"You are forgiven, so let us go our ways,"_ I somehow heard in my head, and realized I'd heard the Manticore's thoughts, as it looked at me. I nodded, and it walked away. "I am so confused right now," I accidentally said.

"About what, sugarcube?" Applejack questioned me about what I'd said.

"I believe my Mask, the Kanohi Ignika, is the source of my power. When the stinger became my blade, and Click, my shield, and just now, I heard the Manticore's response in my head, I believe the mask has caused it all." I then shook my head. "We have no time to wallow in thought." I said, and stood up after sitting down for a bit. "Let's get moving."

* * *

Later still, we kept walking, and I heard Rarity start talking, "Ugh, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." The canopy suddenly thickened up, and darkness surrounded us, as Rarity said, under her breath, "I didn't mean that literally," She said. We all looked around, darkness being quite pesky. I Thought I saw that purple mist again...

Twilight spoke up, "The ruin could be right in front of our faces, and we wouldn't see it!" All the girls began to comment on the darkness, and I spoke up, "Be careful. I have a bad feeling."

Applejack stopped, and said, "Oh, wait, I think I stepped in something." She held up a hoof, and suddenly, Fluttershy screamed loudly, and Applejack kept walking, and said, "easy girl, it's just mud-She suddenly ran into something, and I saw what Fluttershy screamed at. A tree, with a face twisted horribly into the trunk, was staring straight at Applejack. I reacted instinctively(like usual) and impaled the tree with my sword before I'd registered what had happened. I pulled the sword, and looked around, seeing all the trees twisted like this!

"Maintain your focus, girls! It's obvious that evil has tampered with this area!" I shouted to them, to no avail. they began freaking out slightly, as they corraled themselves together. Except, of course, Pinkie Pie.

She was busting out laughing-her-flank-off, and making funny faces at the trees. I began to slightly see her point, but I wasn't feeling it. Twilight spoke up, "Pinkie! What are you doing? Run!"

Pinkie started to almost sing with her next words, "Oh, girls, don't you see?" Then, she _did_ begin to sing.

"When I was a little filly, and the sun was going do-o-o-own,"

Twilight shortly Intervened here, "Tell me she's not-"

"The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me fro-o-o-own,"

This time it was Rarity's turn to say, "She is."

"I'd hide under my pillow, from what I'd thought I'd saw

But Granny Pie said that wasn't a way to deal with fears at all,"

Now was Rainbow's turn, "Well, then, what is?"

"She said, 'Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fe-ars,

You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear."

She stopped her song quite dramatically, and simply said, "Ha, Ha, Ha." and the face on the tree disappeared!

I was surprised to say the least, but She just turned and gave a smile.

"Sooo, Giggle at the ghostly," Fluttershy giggled towards another tree, and its face disappeared as well.

"Guffaw at the grossly," Rainbow laughed as well, and another tree became normal.

"Crack up at the creepy," Rarity started laughing as well, for the same reaction.

"Woof it up with the weepy," Applejack bounced off her back, and in midair, shouted "Whoo-hoo!", causing a higher up face to disappear.

"Chortle at the kooky," She pushed Twilight at a tree, and even she began to giggle.

"Snortle at the spooky," they all laughed, and a whole bunch of trees turned normal.

"And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and-if-he-thinks-he-can-scare-you-then-he's-got-an other-thing-coming-and-the-very-idea-of-such -a-thing-just-makes-you-wanna hahahaha... Laaaauugh!"

I noticed a tree near me, and abruptly, and unintentionally, ended her song when I charged my blade with energy from the mask, and stabbed the tree in the "Face", causing cracks to appear, and finally, the tree exploded with a Cordak-blaster-like sound. They all stopped and stared at this, and I simply said, "I'm not big on laughing. It'll be rare to see me truly laugh."

"Eh," was Pinkie's reply as she shrugged. At this, they all suddenly busted into fits of giggles and laughter. I wasn't incredibly amused, and simply began to follow them after they began running off through the forest.

* * *

They were still giggling, as I jogged to keep up with them, and we suddenly reached a river. Pinkie suddenly stopped, and everyone, minus me, slid into her flank. She peered at the river, everyone else following. Twilight spoke up, "how are we gonna cross this?" I began to speak, "Well, I might-"

I was Interupted by the most unmanly cry I'd ever heard. We looked around for a bit, and eventually, found an (Unmanly) Sea Serpent, clinging to his head as if it were about to fall off.

"Oh, what a world! What, A, World!" He pounded the surface of the river with his (Unmanly) arms.

Twilight decided to ask, "Excuse me sir, Why are you crying?"

"Oh, I don't know, I was just sitting here, minding my own business," I already didn't like this being, his "Off-putting" accent, which sounded vaguely feminine, was annoying, "When this... Tacky, little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me-

I cut him off, unfortunately sounding rude, "Purple smoke? Which way did it go?"

The over-grown tree lizard looked at me, and said, "As I was just saying, this tacky, little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me, and tore half of my precious moustache" He pointed at a stub of hair on his snout," Clean off! And, now, I look Simply horrid!" He began crying, and fell over dramatically in the river. His splash was about to soak the girls, but I pulled out my blade and fired a loose blast of energy at it, causing it to incinerate in midair. They all nodded towards me, thanking me.

Rainbow must have shared my opinion," Aw, Gimme a break!" Applejack also spoke up, "_That's_ what all the fuss is about?" I was gonna add on, but Rarity suddenly said:

"Why, of **course** it is! How can you be so insensitive?" I spoke up now, "Considering my previous body being Hi-jacked by a psychotic, murdering backstabber, versus his facial folicles, I personally say he's _far worse off_," I said, rolling my eyes. Rarity looked at me for a moment, and then continued talking.

"Oh, just look at him. Such lovely, Luminescent scales!" His next words only proved to me he was conceited, "I know." I spoke quieter this time, "Narcissist," I said.

"And that expertly quoped mane," She continued. It reared back, running a hand over its "mane", "oh, I know, I know!" Rarity continued further, "Your _fabulous _manecure!" He gasped, hands on his cheeks, "Oh, it's soo true!" She finished in a way that made me chuckle, "And it's all ruined because of your mustache!"

He began to sob again slightly, saying, "It's true! I'm _Hideous_!"

I made a comment to Rainbow, as I found this funny. I crossed my arms and said, "Someone's self-aware." Rainbow covered her mouth with her hooves, trying not to laugh out loud. Rarity, on the other hand, had a serious face on.

"I simply _cannot_ let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" She suddenly ripped off a scale of his, surprising even me, earning a loud "Ow!" from him. "What'd you do that for?" She held the scale up, and I noticed it had a razor-edge to it. Twilight began to speak, "Rarity, what're you-" She suddenly gasped when Rarity brought the blade to her tail, cutting off the end. The dragon-like serpent fell over dramatically, for no reason.

Rarity then magically picked up her tail, brought it over to said dragon's face, and affixiated the tail-piece to the ripped ends of the moustache, fusing it into place. I was surprised that someone of her mindset would go way out of the way to help someone. I suddenly changed my thoughts toward the dragon, ever-so-slightly.

He rose up, giggling like an insane-asylum patient, and said, "Oh, my Moustache! How wonderful!" He put one hand on his "hip", and, while he did loose a lot of respect from me, I figured he was happy. Rarity simply finished with "You look smashing!"

Twilight walked up towards her, "Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail!" her tail was now a simple stub. "I can fix that," I said, taking a guess on something, walking up and grabbing her tail. Rarity loudly said, "Oh my stars!" I focused my mask power into my hands, then to her tail. "Together, as one mind," I said, and felt the Ignika's power and thoughts temporarily meld with mine. There was a flash, and Rarity gasped loudly. Then, when it was gone, her tail was fully restored. "Wow, I wasn't sure that would work," I said, highly approving the mask's power.

Rarity gasped, and hugged me. "Oh, thank you, dear! Next time, tell me though. I thought you were being fresh with me." I apologized, and looked back. Twilight noticed the river had stopped its violence. "Hey, we can cross now! Whoa!" She was suddenly raised up by the Sea Serpent. "Allow me," He said, with a bow, and allowed us to cross over his back.

* * *

Walking yet some more, I noticed a ravine, and across it, what looked like a castle. "Look! The ruins! We mane it!" Twilight said, and went running. I suddenly noticed the bridge was out. "Twilight, stop!" I sprinted full speed, and threw her backwards again, falling a second time. A second impact would have killed me, and I was lucky I found the bridge about half way down, and latched on. I could hear Twilight's voice, saying "NO! Not again! He surely couldn't have survived that..."

I climbed up, using the fallen bridge, and when they were visible, I shouted, "Surely, He did!" She looked down, and Squealed "Mata Nui!" I forced myself all the way up, and the others pulled me up. Rainbow bluntly said, "What's with you two, and cliffs?" I figured she was just having her fun.

"Yeah, do you have a death wish, sugarcube?" Applejack joked. I turned to Twilight, "I could say the same to her," Pointing with my thumb. She squeaked, and blushed brightly. Pinkie looked across, and said, "well, now what?"

I decided to have some more fun, "Should I 'Fall off' to the other side, and pull the bridge up?" I said cheekily, hoping to get a rise out of them. They all shouted, "NO!" I put up my hands and flashed a grin.

Rainbow simply said, "Du-uh," and wiggled her wings. She bounced into flight, as Pinkie said, "Oh, yeah."

She flew over the ledge, and just before going down, said, "Here's a tribute to Mata Nui!" She winked at me, and dropped. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fluttershy huff silently. I rose an eyebrow in questioning. What exactly had that been about? Rainbow came back up, bridge in tow, and pulled it to the other side. Fog rolled in and she wasn't visible for a little while. We had witnessed her talking with a group moments before the fog rolled in. Eventually, she came back across, and landed, in a triumphant pose. We crossed the bridge, thioughts still plaguing my mind.

We arrived into the building, and Twilight stopped. "The Elements of Harmony!" she said, in wonder, "We found them!" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each brought one over, and I brought the other three. They surprised me with how light the rocks were. "One, two, three, four... There's only five!" pinkie said, as Twilight frowned. Rainbow said, "Where's the sixth?"

I spoke up, "Didn't he book say the sixth one was hidden?" Twilight corrected me, "The book said, that when the five elements meet, a spark will cause the sixth to appear."

Applejack spoke next, "What, in _the_ hay, is that supposed to mean?"

Twilight spoke, "I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back, as I don't know what will happen.

Applejack motioned for everyone to move away. "Come on, y'all, she needs to focus." As we retreated, I noticed the purple mist! "Everypony, Stop!" I said, as I turned on my heel, and moved with all my reaction speed. The mist began to swirl around the elements, and I drew my sword, and continued running. Twilight must have felt the cloud, opened her eyes, and screamed. "No!" I shouted, as the others came back through the door, and dove for the portal. I was a second short, and slammed into the monument the elements had been on, my sword flying out of my hand..

The others came over, and Fluttershy helped me up. "I'm ok, Flutters," I said, unintentionally using a pet name. She blushed slightly, and Looked up, with the others. I immediately noticed Twilight was gone. The others noticed, and began to panic. I noticed a glow coming from another tower, and went to the window. "There! This way!" I said, and began following a hallway in that direction.

I entered the room to see Twilight pat the ground, as if readying a charge. They began running towards each other, and suddenly Twilight teleported past her, to the elements, and attempted again, to spark them. I decided I needed to buy her some time. I pulled my blade and managed to get close enough to hit Nightmare Moon with the pommel of the sword's handle. She was stunned, and when she looked up, she became overwhelmed with anger.

"Ready for round two?" I said, as click transformed into shield form, and I locked my mouthplate closed. she somehow looked angrier.

"You have humiliated me once! You will not do so again!" She said, charging me. I raised my sword, and let loose a blast of life energy. She wasn't expecting this, and went flying backwards. she managed to land on her back hooves, and fired at me this time. I was learning my combat skills relatively quickly, if I may say so, and rolled to the side to dodge. I began to run at her, and rolled to the left, as she fired another, going willy-nilly with her attacks. One caught my shoulder, but I kept going, and eventually got close enough to hit her again, slashing her chest across the other way, leaving an "X"-shaped scar/gouge on her front. I followed up, rolling forward, and, whilst halfway forward, I kicked out with both feet, launching her backwards into the wall.

"Double-kicks aren't so fun when you're receiving them, are they?" I said, as she opened fire again. I countered with a blast of my own, eventually they evened out. I suddenly poured on energy, and it hit her directly, and she went down, shortly. I looked back to Twilight, and asked, "Are you getting anywhere?"

"Not quite. It says a spark will do it, but nothing's happening!" She said. I ran up to her, and said, "I have an idea." I set down my shield, and placed my hands onto the element in front, and channeled mask power into it, and magic began to engulf them. Nightmare Moon suddenly teleported in front of me, and blasted me backwards. I laid for a small moment, writhing in lightning-induced pain. I was able to stand back up, seeing my plan must have worked, as electricity was channeling around the Elements. "No, NO!" Nightmare said, as me and Twilight smirked.

Suddenly, the sparking stopped, and Twilight lost her smirk, and did my mood fall. "What? Where's the sixth element?" Nightmare Moon began cackling madly again, and stomped the ground near them, causing them to shatter, and Twilight gave a look like her hope had been shattered, as well.

"You little foal, thinking you could defeat me?" Nightmare Moon said, "Now, you will never see your princess, or your sun!" Twilight seemed to shrink down. "The night, will last forever!" She began laughing wildly again.

"Why do all you villains cackle madly when you believe you've won?" I said loudly, attempting to gain her attention, and confuse her. It worked, as she seemed puzzled by this, as she stopped. I noticed the others join us in the room, Twilight looking forlorn. I continued, "Don't you see? Those stones were a mere Physical representation of the elements. I have a saying, that my followers use." I stood all the way up, and placed a fist diagonally across my chest. "Unity, Duty, Destiny. Unity brings together the power to defeat evil, and these ponies have demonstrated that perfectly. And right here, to the end, they stuck to their duty, and that, brings them to their destiny!"

Twilight must have understood. "He's right! The spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!" the six appeared to together. The fragments near Nightmare Moon began to float, and this startled her, with which, she said, "What?" I laughed at her surprise.

"Applejack, who reasurred me when I was in doubt, represents the Spirit of Honesty!" Several fragments began following and flying around Applejack.

Twilight continued, "Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the Spirit of Kindness!" Fragments surrounded her too.

"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear, by giggling in the face of danger, represents the Spirit of Laughter!" she, too, was surrounded, smiling hugely.

"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful Serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the Spirit of Generosity!" she smiled, batting her eyes, as shards floated near her.

"And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the Spirit of Loyalty!" She was surrounded too, smiling."The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you through at us!" Nightmare Moon looked worried.

"You still don't have the sixth element! The spark didn't work" She said, hoping to strike fear, but to no avail.

"Mine didn't, but Mata Nui's _did_!" She said. I spoke up, "Every strong fire requires a strong tinder, and the Mask of Life was the perfect Firestarter!"

Twilight finished her point here. "And a different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment when I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. the spark ignited inside me. When I realized that you all," she made a broad sweep with her hoof, even towards me, "Are my friends!"

I noticed a flash, and the sixth element appeared before Twilight. "That spark activated the mask's power, and brought forth the Sixth element." Twilight finished it for me, "The Element of Magic!" In a flash, the fragments formed a necklace on the five from Ponyville, their "flank symbol" upon the center. Twilight's formed a tiara, with her's resting above her forehead.

They stood proudly, and I finished, "And, what good tool is without a focusing point?" I held up my sword, and it glowed bright gold, and as they brought their power together, they fired a rainbow blast through my sword, my energy concentrating, and propelling the Elements' powers. The blast ran into Nightmare Moon as she screamed, "NO!" I shouted, "The three virtues are that focus! **Unity**!" the blast power increased " **Duty**!" said blast began surrounding her entirely, "_**DESTINY**_!" I allowed maximum power to be released, grasping the hilt with both hands, as the combined force caused a massive flash to resonate around the room.

A few seconds later, they were all on the ground, and I was barely standing, my power gone almost completely. I sheathed my sword, and they began to get up, Rainbow saying, "ugh, my head..."

"Everypony ok?" Applejack asked? Everyone around us was lying on the ground, Me excluded

As I said, "I'm alive, barely, but alive..." I collapsed, and hit the floor. I was awake, but my power was nearly gone. They rushed over to help me, and I was helped up by Rainbow and Rarity.

Fluttershy commented, "Oh, Rarity, your necklace is beautiful! It's just like your cutie mark!"

So that's what that symbol is called. She looked at both, and looked back, saying, "So does yours!"

Pinkie randomly bounced over, and said, "Look at mine! Look at mine!"

Rainbow simply said, "aww, yeah!"

Applejack spoke up, "Gee, Twilight, I thought you were just spoutin' a lot o' hooey. But, I reckon, we _do_ represent the Elements Of Friendship!" There was a dim flash, slowly glowing brighter, and a voice said, "Indeed you do." I looked out the window shortly. "The sun! It's rising!" As if coming from the sun, a ball of light appeared, and floated down. "With Unity, comes Duty, And when the two are brought together," I spiked my blade's tip into the ground, "Your destiny is revealed. Twilight, when you were about to fall, both times, I believed it was my duty to prevent you from falling, and to assist you in achieving your destiny. That's why I nearly sacrificed myself." Suddenly, from the ball of light, I witnessed a snow-white unicorn, with wings to boot, and a mane which appeared to possess the colors of the very universe, and flowed in a non-existant breeze.

Twilight suddenly spoke up, "Princess Celestia!" The others bowed, but unlike them, I did not feel I needed to bow, as I was, realistically, the superior being here, and as such, I merely sheathed my blade and returned click to his normal form.

"Twilight Sparkle, My faithful student," Said the allegedly most powerful being on this planet, Princess Celestia, "I knew you could do it."

Twilight looked confused. "But, you told me it was all an old pony tail!" She said, and Celestia corrected her, "I told you that you needed to make some friends. Nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who has the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you'd made true friends." She turned to me, and said, "Warrior, I must ask you something." I nodded, acknowledging her.

"Speak, Princess, you have the floor," I said, making clear that I had no intent of giving her a spread of leeway merely because she was foreign royalty. She nodded, and said, "What drove you to protect these ponies?"

She had asked me a question I could answer with no problem.

I looked out the window, towards "her" sun. "Where I come from, we have the Three Virtues to follow. Unity, Duty, Destiny. The Unity of these friends brought together the power needed to stop Nightmare Moon, and They followed their Duty to the very end. I could not allow them to fail to achieve their Destiny." I turned back to her, and finished with, "Their Destiny has been fulfilled, and mine is to be intertwined with theirs' and your's, most likely."

I began to speak more, before she had the chance to. "May I also state, I will warn you now, your world, it is in grave danger. My ancient enemy, Makuta Teridax, has stolen my old body, and is, eventually, going to kill anything and everything on this planet."

"I will heed your warning," She said, and then she said, "But first."She turned toward where Nightmare Moon had been. In her place, was a beautiful purple and dark teal pony. "If only another will is well. Princess Luna," she walked towards the pony, and her eyes widened in fear, "It has been a thousand years since I've seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We're meant to rule together, little sister." This caught the others off guard.

"Sister?" Twilight, Rainbow dash, and Fluttershy said in unison, as I spoke, "I had a feeling they were siblings, as two deity-level beings are very unlikely to exist side-by-side, and not be relative."

Celestia continued. "Will you accept my friendship?" All the ponies' were on edge, literally, with Pinkie falling onto her chin. I was holding a straight face. The Pony looked down, then jumped up, tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" They both cried a little bit. I even felt a tear try to slip from my newly-formed organic eyes. Celestia added, "I missed you too." Pinkie began being random again, when suddenly, I lost all focus. On the wall, in the back of the room, there was a symbol. A very, _very_ familiar symbol. "Hey, do you know what this calls for? a Party!" Pinkie said.

"Hold it," I said, and they all stopped and turned to look at me. "Come here, all of you." They all walked over to where I had gone, and I pointed at a symbol, of three circles, surrounded by two curved lines. So simple, yet, meaning so much "This symbol... It's the symbol for 'Unity, Duty, Destiny'! How's it here?!" I was utterly confused.

"We discovered this castle a long time ago, and used it before Canterlot was ever conceived. That was over two thousand years ago," Said the newly formed Princess Luna, "Is it possible that someone you know built it?" I considered this, and immediately, 6 unique beings came to mind. Was it possible?

Had the Great Beings graced this planet with their presence?

"There is only one way to find out." I then walked up to touch it, and as I did, I suddenly felt the mask begin to glow. I recoiled, fearing what may have happened, then put my hand forward again, touching it, and as I did, I heard a click. All of a sudden, The door dropped, and I reflexed, drawing my sword and backing up. When the door had dropped away, I put my sword away, and walked down. All the others followed me.

I noticed the walls, they were layered in hundreds of thousands of millions of inscribed Matoran symbols. "This?" I said, spinning all around, waving my hand at everything, "This proves what could be quite possibly the greatest thing at the greatest time. The only beings who could have been here were the Great Beings. My creators."

Luna spoke up, using an older, less advanced version of their language, as she hadn't been herself since the "Nightmare Moon" incident. "What art thou speaketh about, nave?" I had heard all sorts of languages, so this was no harder to decipher than any other.

"My creators, they were here." I said, and began to walk around, reading the symbols. "These are letters, from my language, Matoran." I kept looking for the one thing I needed to see, and, indeed, I found it. I pointed my hand at one, poking it. "This word, this determines it."

Twilight walked over, and, for a moment, she studied the letters, trying to make out any of the letters, and eventually said, "I got nothing. What does this read, Mata Nui?"

I said one word, one with the grandest significance to all of this. "Angonce."

Rainbow flew over, and said, "'Angonce'? What does 'Angonce' mean, exactly?"

"It doesn't actually mean anything, it's a name," I responded, "The name of my creator. Angonce came up with the plan for, well, me." Rainbow seemed mindblown by all this. I began to translate some of the wall of text. "This appears to be the earliest of their recordings here. I quote, '**_We have safely assimilated into the races of this world, as we have not revealed ourselves. This world may be the one where we begin our testing to the reconnaissance androids. We can only hope they are successful if we are to stop the combat on Spherus Magna and prevent the Core War from annihilating the planet. We will begin taking small numbers of the races on this world, to use for laborous work on the probes. We may not have enough time.'_** This is incredible!" I had never once seen my own creators' writings, and this was fascinating.

I made my way to another wall, roughly 15 feet from the first one, where I translated some more. "This segment is interesting. I quote, again, _**'We have been preparing the first test of the first of our reconnaissance androids, and if this being succeeds, it shall be christened the "Chardon Nui", the All-mighty Spirit. The power source is a highly experimental one, using the process of special machines, taking hydrogen molecules, and splitting them, producing tremendous power. The power source is in the shape of a cube, approximately 167 feet on all sides. Within it, are housed over 800 of these reactors, and they will give this being the power to do almost anything by itself. We do fear, however, that the leader of a quadrupedal race who have deemed themselves "Ponies" may be onto our capture of their species. Its only a matter of time.'**_ So, the pony leaders of their time were semi-hostile, for good reason, I suppose." The others were all listening intently,hearing what I said.

The next wall thereafter had some interesting data on the inscriptions, as it detail the results of the experiment. "It appears this next section may contain what I'm looking for. I quote, once more, _**'The test of the "Chardon Nui" android has been deemed a massive failure. When the android was activated, it rose, and we detailed its mission to it, to explore the universe, and learn the ultimate way to maintain an unfaltering civilization. However, as the Red**_** Star'**" I paused to explain the red star, basically a booster engine, "_**' approached for lift-off, just one of the reactors went critical, and detonated around half the others. This, alone, didn't destroy the robot, but the resulting chain reaction inside the power chords fractured the torso, and destroyed a good part of the robot. It is, however, reversable, as we have a power supply stationed to the north, capable of repairing the whole. However, the "Ponies" were finally able to make an effective claim amongst themselves that we are, indeed, stealing their species. However, they've spread the rumor that we're killing them, and they've rallied against us. We also believe their leader may have been the one to cause the reactor failure. We may not have the time to attempt the**_** restoration.'** I don't believe it. There really is an android here... Huh?" On the next wall, there was what appeared to be a large screen, with a switch in the form of a press-handle. I grabbed the handle, and twisted is 180 degrees to the right, and then forced it in.

Almost immediately, a metal clamp wrapped around my wrist, preventing me from removing my hand. I attempted to remove my hand, even going so far as to put my foot to the wall and pull, and simply could not get it loose. I then had an idea, fairly quickly, to pump the Mask of Life's energy into the device. When I did, the screen activated, and on came the face of Angonce**.

"_Do not be alarmed, Mata Nui_" My eyes went wide "_Your arrival here has been destiny from the start. You are supposed to be here. You've always had one mission. We knew eventually your body would be stolen, and you would be brought here, so I will regive your mission to you. You are destined to return to Spherus magna, with all that you've learned, and restore the planet, as we know now, there is no chance of stopping the Fracturing. Spherus Magna is in your hands, and we know, your opponent will not give easily. Surely, you've already read, the 'Chardon Nui' robot." I nodded, even though it was merely a recording. "The power source to restore it, its-_" Angonce wasn't given the time to finish his sentence, as a door behind him exploded with magical power, and he, and all the other beings turned to face it. I noticed a Very large Unicorn-Pegasus Hybrid pony, whose main color was a white-silver, and whose mane seemed to float on an invisible breeze. His mane, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was the Time-Space continuum. Both the princesses behind me gasped loudly, obviously knowing what they saw.

The pony spoke up, shouting "_All of you will pay for your insolence on my people! Fall by my mag-_" The pony wasn't given the chance to finish, as all six Great beings pulled out weapons similar to Nyhrah Ghost Blasters, and each of them unloaded into him. Princess Luna screamed loudly, and I watched, my heart, nearly stopped, as my creators murdered a being trying to protect his people. When they had ended, there was blood all over the ground where the pony had been, and the pony itself... Why? Why would they do this?! I began to violently strain on the wrist vice, trying my hardest to end it. Finally, the Great Being known at Kerboltix turned, and blasted the camera, and the record finally ended. All at once, the vise let go, and I went flying landing on my back. I fell, and no one moved. They were all stunned by what they'd seen.

I'd seen enough. I stood up, rage full in my veins, and drew my sword. I growled out my every breath, my fury unlike any other, and the Mask charged a unique, black energy into my sword. I finally screamed as loud as I could before jumping up and impaling the screen in the center, and blasting the energy into it. The result blew up the screen completely, destroying every ounce of that record. I couldn't take anymore, and passed out from adrenaline.

* * *

I woke up on the ground, at the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight noticed me, and ran over. "Mata Nui! Are you okay?" I nodded, and stood up, feeling a bit of pain in all of my general body. "Phew, we were sure you were hurt." I then noticed everyone else waiting around.

Pinkie Pie came over, and said, "Well, its about time you woke up, Sleepy Pants, 'cuz its Party Time!" I hoped she could cheer up Celestia and Luna, I hadn't forgot what I and they had seen.

* * *

Immediately upon returning home, Pinkie threw an enormous party, for all of Ponyville. Everyone came, thanking the gods for Celestia, and even a few ponies came up to me, thanking me for being a "real Stallion".

Celestia and Luna came in upon a carriage, and Spike was reunited with Twilight. Celestia and Luna came forth, both looking better than before, and everyone, except me, bowed. everyone froze, and looked at me. I pulled my sword, and everyone gasped. I swung down, and instead of doing what any one thought, I rammed the end into the ground, and dropped to one knee. I felt Luna had earned the right for me to bow to her, not so much yet Celestia.

Twilight, later had a saddened face, and I walked up to her. "Why are you so sad Twilight? you saved your world from a grave danger," I said, wondering about this.

"Yes, Why?" The Princess had came up behind me. "Aren't you happy that you can return to your studies in Canterlot?" Twilight looked on a moment before she spoke up.

"That's just it. Just when I learn how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them." I saw the forlorn looks on their faces, and decided I had to act then. "Kind Celestia, I, too, have just learned this joy. And, although I won't be returning to Spherus Magna anytime soon, I wish to request Twilight and I remain in Ponyville, if you'd be so kind." I noticed everyone's face brighten at my words.

She paused for a moment, then said, "Spike, take a note please. '_I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, shall take on a new mission in equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings, from her new home in Ponyville!_" all her friends gathered around, happily. I was feeling bad for a bit until she said:

"Princess, What about Mata Nui?" I couldn't believe it! a being I had met not a day ago was helping me? "Friendship" is incredible... "Spike, take a second note. *Ahem*. '_I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the 'Warrior of Friendship', Mata Nui, shall be given a home in Ponyville, free of charge, to study with Twilight._'" I felt a feeling of not necessarily happiness, but a good feeling indeed it was. I knew it would only be a matter of time that I stayed here.

I was given a house (Ironically, near Fluttershy's house). I couldn't believe the hospitality. I had removed my extra armor, Shoulder armor included, and laid down, and for the first time ever, I was about to willingly sleep. Then I remembered, I still have to tell my side of the story to the others. Even with this, my sleep finally came.

* * *

*{ This phrase her is how I explain the use of Matoran Language. In this case, Matoran will be in german, here, he says, "I am the Mata Nui, The Great Spirit."

**{ In this, you can imagine Angonce as a very old-looking human, with a long beard.


	4. Chapter 3: The Ticket Master

_**MATA NUI"S PERSPECTIVE**_

* * *

I half-awoke, conscious, but in stasis, to the gentle chirping of birds, and remembered yesterday's happenings. The discovery of the very Toa Equestrala. I find that quite amazing, that beings from this planet could become Toa artificially. They even know their mask powers. Twilight's Tryna is very unique. What are the odds that a being like her would have Matoro's mask?

I heard a gentle knock, and was brought completely into the real world. I arose, and called, "One moment!" I proceeded to replace my shoulder armor, and walked to the door. There, speak of Karzahni, stood Twilight, looking a little sleepy, from what I was guessing was the time, and Spike on her back, asleep.

"Hey, sorry bother you so early in the morning," She said, and I looked at her in what must have been an understanding way.

"It is quite alright. I've been awake, just pondering yesterday's occurances. It was quite amazing what we did," I said.

"Indeed," Twilight said, "But I was wondering, could you come with me to help Applejack clear her orchard?"

I was intrigued, so I replied, "Why not? I don't have anything else to do today. I'm in."

She smiled a big grin, and said, "Thanks, Mata Nui. Let's go."

We began walking towards Sweet Apple Acres. It was an uneventful walk, as we mostly walked, not saying a word. As we walked through town, I couldn't help but notice a grey-coated pony, with yellow hair, and crossed eyes, strangely enough, watching me. I shrugged it off, and walked on in silence with twilight. We arrived, and Applejack seemed to be waiting for us. "Howdy, Twilight, and Mata Nui. You came with Twilight to help?" She asked me.

"Yes. I hear you need to clear your orchard," I said, a little mislead at the time.

"Yeah, we just need to harvest the Golden Delicious apples," She said, and I realized she didn't mean to remove the trees, merely the apples.

As I underastood now, and walked over, picking up two saddles, each having a bucket on either side, and placed them on my shoulders. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let us harvest!"

* * *

Roughly 4 hours later, we were walking back. Spike was sitting on Twilight's back, and she, applejack, and I were walking to the barn. Spike was picking apples out of Twilight's baskets, and saying "No" for each one, and throwing it.

"Thank ya kindly, Twilight, Mata Nui, for helping me out. I bet Big Macintosh I could get all these golden delicious back in the barn before lunchtime." She bounced randomly, "If I win, He's gonna walk up stirrup street in one 'o Granny's girdles!" She started giggling.

I laughed when I realized why she needed help. "Ha ha ha, Glad to help. It'll help me get used to the organic muscles I now have." I said, hefting the two saddles/four full baskets on my shoulders. It took some getting used to, but I quite liked physical labor. Maybe it was because I could help my friends out in some way.

"yeah, like Mata Nui said, no problem at all, AppleJack. I'm glad the goal is lunchtime," She said, "All this hard work is making me hungry." Spike was still sitting on her back, doing his thing with the apples.

He tossed one backwards, bouncing it off of twilight's head, and said, "I know, Right?" Sometimes, he doesn't realize his own irony, at all. Twilight gave him a look. He smiled embaressingly.

"Puh-lease, Spike, you've been lounging on my back all morning while we worked!" Twilight commented to her scaly assisstant.

Spike said, "Exactly! You two were taking soo long, that I missed snack time." Twilight stomach rumbled right then, and we all looked at her underside.

She chuckled cutely, and said, "Ah, I guess we better get some food." Spike began his apple shenanigans again.

"Nope, no, ew, worm," He said, throwing them backwards. He suddenly shoved his claws way into the basket and came up with a glisteningly bright, shiny, red apple. "A-ha!"

Twilight turned, and licked her lips. "Oh, Spike, that looks delicious!" What she probably wasn't expecting was for him to shove the whole fruit in his mouth! "Spike!" She said to him. He chewed the apple for a minute, and swallowed.

"What?" he said innocently, and he suddenly covered his mouth, and then released a ball of magic fire, as he burped, recieving a letter from the princess.

"It's a letter from Princess Celestia!" Twilight said, as spike caught the letter out of the air, and I spoke up.

"A letter? What's up, Spike?" I asked, wondering what the random message was all about. He cleared his throat, and began reading.

_"Hear ye, hear ye! her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala, to be held in the magnificient capitol city of Canterlot, on the twenty-first day of... _yadda yadda yadda..._ Cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle, plus two guests!"_

Twilight and AppleJack both gasped, and in unison, said, "The Grand Galloping Gala!"

I was highly confused, as I didn't know what a gala was, let alone this 'Grand Galloping Gala'. "What is the 'Grand Galloping Gala' you speak of?" The two girls didn't hear me, as they were bouncing around, giggling.

Spike made a motion, pointing at his throat, but then, he suddenly held his stomach, and burped again, as three tickets flew into the air. He caught them, saying, "Look, three tickets!"

"Wow, great! I've never been to the Gala. Have you, Spike?" Twilight said, and asked. Spike made a face, and said:

"No. And I plan to keep it that way." He folded his arms. "I don't want any of that girly, frilly, Froo-froo nonsense." Obviously, Spike was covering up, but I didn't say anything towards that. Instead I spoke up with a question.

"What is the Grand Galloping Gala? I've never heard of it before." I finally got them to hear me. Twilight gasped, and answered.

"Only the biggest ball of the year! Ponies from all over Equestria come to it, and it's an honor to go!" She answered me. She re-adverted her attention to Spike. "And, come on spike, a dance would be nice." AppleJack suddenly jumped up, startling Twilight.

"Nice? It'd be a heap more than just nice!" She seemed to begin to daydream. "I'd love to go. Land sake's, if I had an apple stand set up, *ponies'ould be chowing our tasty vittles 'til the cows came home!"(*Note: Yes, that's a weird conjunction, but it's how I heard it, so that's what I wrote.)She continued, "Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, With all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up around here. We could replace that saggy old roof! And Big Macintosh could replace that saggy old plow! And Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip! Ooh, I'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala..." she trailed off.

Twilight began to walk over, "Oh, well, in that case, would you like to-" She was cut off by a familiar scream. I quickly broke into action, jumped up between them, and caught none other than Rainbow Dash, Bridle-style. I let gravity pull me back to the ground, and Rainbow smiled sheepishly.

"Uh, thanks, big guy," She said to me, as I let her down. I merely nodded, and looked back towards the other two. Rainbow spoke up, "Are we talking about the Grand, Galloping Gala?" She asked the two, and me. AppleJack suddenly took up a bit of hostility towards her.

"Rainbow Dash! You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples. What were ya busy doin'? Spyin'?" At this, Rainbow turned away.

"No, I was busy" She looked up, to where we saw a blanket and a pillow on a tree, "Napping."

"Of course you were," I said, and she apparently ignored me.

"And I just happened to hear you have a couple extra tickets?" She said, floating upside-down by flapping her wings in reverse.

Twilight attempted to speak, "Yeah, but-"

"YES!" Rainbow suddenly outburst, "This is soo awesome! The WonderBolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala Every year! I can see it now..." She trailed off to me, as the mask began to somehow communicate with me, mentally "telling" me of the battles raging inside my old body. I could sense five of the six Toa Mahri attempting to fend off swarms of Skakdi, and Rahkshi. I suddenly witnessed one in particular, a green toa, with broad shoulders, hoisting two Cordak Blasters. He was in particularly laying waste to the enemy ranks, as his entirely long-range assault allowed him to take on many at once. I suddenly felt the mask pooling energy, and in my vision, gold light surrounded the brave warrior, as became highly shocked, and suddenly, he was gone!

I was utterly confused, but I came back into the real world. "I asked for that ticket first!" AppleJack said, and I figured out that they didn't realize there were two extra tickets.

"So? That doesn't mean you own it!" rainbow retorted in AppleJack's face. I decided to step in to prevent this from escalating. Unfortunately, it didn't exactly work

"Girls, there's no need to-" I was cut short,

"Oh, yeah? Well, I challenge you to a hoof-wrestle!" AJ said back to Rainbow, as they glared daggers at each other. "Winner, gets the ticket." They shot over to a stump, and began this "hoof-wrestling", and Twilight got between them.

"Girls!" She said, and shoved them apart, "These are my tickets, and I'll decide who gets it, thank you very much. I'm already intent on Mata Nui coming along, as he's never been to a gala period." I was quite shocked by this kindness. "As for the remaining ticket, Whoever has the best reason to go, will get it."

"Twilight," I said, "Are you sure about this? Why not let them both go, and I can stay home?" I said, not understanding any of this kindness towards me. AppleJack and Rainbow interrupted me.

AppleJack spoke first, "Drummin' up business for the farm?"

Then, Rainbow spoke, "A chance to audition for the WonderBolts?"

AppleJack scooted forward, and said, "Money to fix granny's hip!"

Rainbow spoke again, "Living the dream!"

I intervened rather forcefully here. "Alright, that's enough! They're Twilight's, and it's her choice. While those were good reasons, I think it'd be better for her to get some time to think." Her stomach rumbled at this point, and she chuckled sheepishly. "That proves my point more. Thinking can be hard on an empty stomach. Come on, Twilight, you should get some food."

Twilight agreed, "Alright. We'll go get something to eat, and I'll think about it over lunch, Ok?"

They both seemed depressed for a bit, and said, "Ok..." They then looked up, and lost the depression in favor of competitive spirit once more. They started to hoof-wrestle once again as we walked away.

"Wow, those two. Sometimes, I wonder about Rainbow, she can be kind of half-minded," I said to Twilight as we walked back towards Ponyville.

"Oh, don't worry too much, they're just competitive." She assured me, as I took another look over my shoulder, and realized how far we'd already walked. I could barely see them, really. We were actually almost to Ponyville. _'Wow, time flies when I'm thinking,'_ I thought to myself.

"So, who are you gonna give the extra ticket to, Twilight?" Spike asked her, as we walked past the town's entrance.

"I don't know, Spike," She said, "But I really can't think on an empty stomach." I noticed we were walking past Pinkie Pie's workplace. I was closer to the door, and yet, I still saw the next action coming first. "So where should we eat?" Was all Twilight got out before the pink blurr of pain flew from the top segment of the door. I instinctively hit the deck, and Pinkie missed me, and slammed directly into Twilight. I performed an over-powered push-up to get back to my feet, and looked over. They laid in a pile on the ground, and the tickets fluttered out into the open. They landed on Pinkie's nose, and she opened her eyes.

She jumped up suddenly, and ran around, screaming, "AAH! Bats! Bats on my face!" She stopped all at once to look at them. "Wait! These aren't..." Her eyes suddenly lit up like stars. "Tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?!" Her mouth hung open, in an almost violent smile. I was suddenly brought out of the world again, by the mask again, showing me another vision. It seemed the four remaining Toa Mahri couldn't find their brother, and suddenly I realized, The mask must have teleported him here! It told the others this, speaking in its genderless voice and suddenly, I noticed, in my vision, the female, blue Toa of Water, surrounded by the energy, and pulled away like before. The mask suddenly seemed to statically loose contact.

I noticed Rarity had joined us, going on about some stallion who was elegible. I hadn't heard anything due to the mask. Oh, well, if it's important, I'll learn about it. "Twilight, I simply _cannot_ believe you would intive Pinkie Pie, so she can, 'party', and prevent me from meeting my true love! How could you?" She turned dramatically.

"Great, the situation's going to Karzahni, again," I thought out loud. Suddenly, A rabbit bolted over, and grabbed the ticket out of Spike's hand, earning a "Hey!" from the dragon. The rabbit bolted back to none other than Fluttershy. He climbed to her head, and put it in front of her face.

"Oh, Angel, these are perfect!" She said, in her quiet, lulling voice. I went to walk over, but I was interrupted by Fluttershy, unintentionally.

"Um, uh, excuse me, Twilight. I would just like to ask, uh, if it would be alright, if you haven't given it to someone else-" Rarity cut Fluttershy off, quite rudely.

"You? _You _want to go to the Gala?" I took up a naturally defensive position.

"Rarity!" I scolded her, and she looked up, and smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, no." Fluttershy said, and her rabbit, Angel, came over, and padded her hoof rapidly with his foot. "Oh, I mean, yes. Or, actually, kinda. You see, it's not so much the Grand Galloping Gala, as it is the private gardens surrounding the dance. The flowers are said to be the most beautiful, and fragrant in all of equestria! For the night of the Gala, and that night alone, will they all be in bloom. And that's just the Floura! Don't get me started on the Fauna! there's loons, and toucans, and gidderns, oh my! Hummingbirds that can really hum! And Buzzards that can really buzz! And Blue Jays, and Red Jays, and Green Jays, and Pink Jays, and Pink Flamingos!

Twilight looked a little confused. "Gee, Fluttershy, it sounds... Beautiful?" Then, an all-too-familiar voice spoke up again.

"Hey, wait just a minute!" We all looked up, and there was Rainbow Dash sitting atop the frame of a nearby house. Twilight was the first to speak up.

"Rainbow Dash!" She said, in a slightly annoyed, and over-flustered voice. She was obviously tired, and annoying. "Were you following Mata Nui and I?"

Rainbow retorted, "Yes. I mean, No, I mean, Maybe. Look, it doesn't matter!" She said, "I couldn't risk a goody-four-shoes like you giving the ticket away to just anypony!" I jumped in front of Twilight, and closed my maskplate, beginning to get annoyed. AppleJack suddenly came up:

"Wait just another minute!" I was getting quite annoyed by now.

"AppleJack, were you following us too?" I said, finding her to be a nuisance at the moment.

She responded, "No, I was following" She pointed a hoof at Rainbow "This one, to make sure she didn't try any funny business. still trying to take my ticket." The last part she said under her breath.

Rainbow, as I had, caught it. "Your Ticket?!"

Pinkie said something next, "But Twilight's taking me!" they all started arguing, and surrounding her. I decided enough was enough. I stepped forward, grabbed Twilight with my left arm, and unsheathed my sword, turned on my heel plates, and slammed the blade 3 feet or so, into the ground. I proceeded to charge energy into it, and a massive explosion sounded off as the ground was etched with the Unity Duty Destiny symbol.

"SILENCE!" I howled at the top of my lungs, as several ponies in town squre started staring at me, and they all, minus Pinkie, stopped and looked fearfully at me.

"And then I said, 'Oatmeal, are you craz-'" Pinkie said, before realizing we'd stopped. "Oh. Sorry." I finally let my pulse slow.

"Why are you all acting like this?! you need to take time and calm yourselves! Can't you see arguing isn't going to do anything?" I said, putting Twilight down.

Twilight agreed, apparently. "Yes, what Mata Nui said!"

Rarity came forward, and poutingly said, "But, Twilight..."

Twilight put a hoof in her mouth, and said, "Ah! This is my decision! And I'm gonna make it on my own, minus Mata Nui. And I certainly can't think with all this noise!" She said, and her stomach rumbled again, as if on cue, and she added, "Not to mention hunger..."

I looked back up, and waved a hand, and said, "Now, get! All of you!" they all reluctantly walked off, muttering various "ok's". I turned back to Twilight. "You ok?"

"Yeah." She said, and then spoke up, to the others, "And don't worry, I'll get this figured out!" She looked around, and added, "Somehow..." I felt bad for her, so I spoke up.

"Come on, Twi. Let's get some food. You deserve it, with all the annoyances today." I said, with a slight smile. She smiled weakly, and nodded. I pulled her into a short hug, and she seemed to become calmer. I pulled her up, and I looked around a bit. I noticed a nearby restaurant, and took her there.

We were brought to a table, which I noticed resembled and overgrown fungi deposit, and we ordered three waters, and the waiter went to get it. Twilight smacked her head onto the table, really upset, and tired. I could only pet her, and be here. "Ah, guys, what am I going to do? All five of my best friends have really good reasons to go to the Gala." She used magic to pull up a flower from the vase on the table, and began pulling off pedals. "AppleJack, or Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie, or Fluttershy. Rarity, oh, who should go with me?"

I suddenly had an idea. "Twilight, I have a proposal. Perhaps you should-" I was interrupted at the waiter brought our water, asked for our orders.

"Have you made your decision?" The waiter asked Twilight, who was still lost in her thoughts, and screamed:

"I can't decide!" Everyone suddenly looked at her, the waiter seeming quite shocked. Spike explained things.

"Twilight, he just wants to take your order." He said, pointing to the folder he had. I found out this was the "Menu", Which showed the food they had.

"Oh," She said, nervously, "I would love a Daffodil and Daisy Sandwich." He turned to spike, next.

"Do you have any rubies?" He asked, innocently. The waiter had a face which made him seem very skeptical. "No? Ok, fine, I'll have the hay fries, Extra crispy." He looked towards me. "Eh, surprise me," I said, and he shrugged, and walked off.

"What do you think, Spike?" Twilight said, and Spike must not have realized she was still talking about the ticket.

"I think we need to try a new restaurant. I mean, I like grass just fine, but would it hurt anybody to offer some gemstones?" I, basically, face-palmed.

"No, I mean about the Gala, and the ticket, and who I should take." Spike looked slightly confused.

"Oh, you're still on that?" He said, and I almost wanted to repeat my face-palm. Twilight jumped up on the "table", throwing the vase, and got into Spike's face.

"Spike, listen to me! How, do I choose? And when I do choose, will the other four be mad at me?" She looked up in thought. "I mean, I could give up my ticket, and give away the other two, but that would still leave three disappointed ponies. What do I-" The waiter had returned, with Twilight's sandwich. "Oh, thank you. This looks _so_ good!" She said. I noticed I had some kind of string of sorts, covered in a yellowish sauce. I took one of the eating "Tools", a four-pointed object, and picked some of it up, and tried it. I instantly loved this food, even though I had no clue what it was.

"Waiter, what is this?" I asked, completely loving the mixture of flavors in my mouth.

"This is called 'Angel Mane Pasta Alfredo', sir," The waiter said. I made a mental note of this, and looked up. Spike was wolfing the fries, and Twilight seemed to be readying herself, for her sandwich.

"I'm sure everything will be much clearer, after I eat." She began to lift the sandwich with her telekinesis, and suddenly, nearly all the ponies bolted for the actual restaurant. I stood up, confused, and suddenly, the waiter spoke up. "Madam, are you going to eat your food in ze rain?" he said, prompting my question:

"What rain? It doesn't even look like clouds, let alone-" All at once a downpour occured, with me being caught right in it. "-Rain." I noticed that it wasn't raining where Twilight was at, as if there was an opening in the sky. I looked up, and, of course, Rainbow Dash was up above us.

"What's going on?" Twilight said, utterly confused. "Look up, Twilight," I said, and she noticed the rainbow-maned pegasus upon the clouds.

"Hi there, best friend forever I've ever had!" She shouted down, with a cheesy smile on her face. "Enjoying the sunny weather?"

Twilight looked quite annoyed at Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" She questioned her, as I figured it out in my head.

"What do you mean?" Called Rainbow, "I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on, so I thought I'd kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry, so she could eat in peace, that's all." She finished. Twilight was obviously not amused.

"Rainbow," Twilight started, "You're not trying to get extra consideration, for the extra ticket, by doing me extra-special favors, are you?" At the last part, she looked up and narrowed her eyes.

Rainbow responded, "Me? No, no no, of course not!" Twilight merely looked up.

"Uh huh," She said, obviously annoyed. I could feel the rain dripping under my armor, to my new skin. It still feels strange to be organic...

Rainbow brought me back out of my trance. "Seriously, I'd do it for anypony." I looked up, closed my maskplate, and growled in a low tone, loud enough for Rainbow to hear me. I was standing just on the outside of the dry zone, and this was starting to aggravate me.

"Rainbow, I speak for Twilight when I say, Close that hole in the clouds." I said, and Twilight nodded.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." She said, and Rainbow groaned an "Ok" and closed the cloud with a zipper-like noise.

Twilight took up her sandwich again with her magic, and went to bite it, but the rain poured down. ruining the sandwich, and Twilight's hair. Spike did his best to stifle a laugh. I merely gave him a look, and patted Twilight's back. Rarity seemingly came out of no where, surprising me into jumping back. "Twilight!" She said, "It's _raining!_"

Twilight seemed very annoyed by this. "No, **_really_**?" She said, with the most sarcasm I'd ever heard her use.

Rarity ran over, and grabbed Twilight, saying, "Come with me, before you catch a cold!" She pulled Twilight, and took off for her shop. I looked at Spike, and he simply shrugged. I repeated the gesture, and we took off after the two.

* * *

We arrived to see Twilight shaking off her body and mane, only for the water to coat onto Rarity. Wish I could simply do that, I'm soaked to the bone... Twilight turned around, and sheepishly said, "Uh, oops. Sorry."

Rarity looked annoyed at first, but she forced a smile. "Oh no, it's _Quite_ alright." She said, "After all, we are" She jumped over, and nuzzled Twilight's side with her forehead, and finished with "The best of friends, are we not?" She grabbed Twilight's front hooves. "And you know what the best of friends do." Twilight seemed confused, at first, but I had a feeling...

"Make~Over~!" Rarity said, in a sing-song voice.'_yep_'. She pulled over a dressing curtain, and began "making over" Twilight. I knew this was but only part of Rarity's attempt to get favor for the ticket. Twilight and Rarity were making various random noises behind the curtains (Giggity), until eventually, Rarity pulled the curtain away, showing Twilight, in a quite beautiful outfit. I had learned to appreciate beauty as it comes, and these equines _were _beautiful. "There! Oh, you're simply darling!" Rarity exclaimed.

Twilight looked at herself for a moment, before saying, "Uhh, yeah, it is kinda pretty, isn't it?" I spoke up now.

"You look quite nice in it, Twilight. I really found it hard to believe ponies didn't call you pretty before," I said, speaking truthfully, to which, she blushed, and looked downward. '_Success'_ I thought, almost putting on a "troll"face of sorts, but in a good way. (Note: Yes, Mata Nui knows what a trollface is.)

Spike was pointing at his throat, again, when Rarity rushed over, causing him to nearly swallow his hand, and she said, "And you! Oh, Spike, I have a dandy little outfit for the dashing gent." She pulled over the curtain again, and began the "ritual" again. When she was done, Spike was dressing in what must have been an old-timey outfit.

He took a look at himself, and gasped, as I laughed quietly about it. "Oh, Spike." Twilight and I said.

"Now you just need a hat," Added Rarity, running over, and back again, to put a hat upon his head, to complete his look.

"Ueh!" He made a weird noise, "I told you I don't want any part in this girly Gala gunk. See you guys at the library!" He bolted, as his clothes literally flew off of him. I chuckled again at his silliness.

Rarity chuckled loosely, and said, "Oh, who needs him anyway? This is all about you!" She said, pulling a mirror over to Twilight. Twilight looked at herself, and smiled, and made a few poses. "And, of course, how fabulous you'll look at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity added, which I believe was her metaphorical downfall.

Twilight stopped posing. "Wait, the Grand-" Rarity suddenly gasped, and I looked over to her. She appeared to be looking at an outfit which perfectly matched the one she gave Twilight.

"And, oh, my goodness, what a coincidence! I happen to have an ensemble of my own, that matches yours to a tee!" Twilight was obviously annoyed with her pushiness. "We would be the bells of the ball, you and I, everyone would be clamoring for our attention! All eyes would be on us!" She grabbed and hugged Twilight's head. "And everyone will finally know that the most talented, most sophisticated pony in all of equestria is Rarity the Unicorn!" Twilight was now quite annoyed, as was I. Rarity noticed, and giggled nervously. "A-and Twilight Sparkle of course.."

"I see what's going on," Said Twilight, "You're just buttering me up, so I'd give you the extra ticket!" I nodded, as I'd figured that's what it was all about. "Well, it's not gonna work!" She removed the outfit, and threw it over Rarity's head. "You're going to have to wait for my decision, just like everyone else! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been trying all day to get some lunch!" Just before we could leave, AppleJack threw her head in the doorway.

"Did somepony say, 'Lunch'?" She said, and grabbed Twilight by the hoof, and forcefully pulled her out the door. She landed on her stomach, and I knelt down to help her. We looked up, and there was a whole cart full of various baked apple goods. "You've got to be kidding me!" Twilight exclaimed.

AppleJack began to speak again. "I got, apple pie, apple fritters, apple tarts, apple dumplings, apple crisp, apple crumblers, aaand, apple" Another word I couldn't quite understand. What's with these ponies, and the use of cognates from different languages? "Uh, the dessert, not my auntie," AppleJack finished. "What'dya say there, best friend?" Twilight gave an angry face, and her stomach rumbled loudly.

"Is that a yes?" AppleJack said, referencing the stomach growl. Twilight's face was only getting madder, and madder.

"No." She said, and jumped up on her back hooves, and brought her front hooves down hard. "No!" The plate on Applejack's head slid off. I jumped forward, and managed to catch it, just barely, and put it back on the cart. "I don't know_ who_ I'm giving the ticket to. And all these favors are making it even harder to decide! In fact, I'm less sure now than I was this morning!" She half-grunted, half-screamed, and ran off, presumeably towards her house. "Angonce-damn it!" I cursed, and sprinted after her.(Note[Continued from before] Mata Nui also knows the cuss words, they'll just be used in different manners, like "Angonce Damn it", as opposed to "God-damn it")

She ran far too fast, but I was doing my all-mighty best to keep up. Behind me, I heard AppleJack say something, but I wasn't focusing on that. I poured on all my energy, and ran as fast as I possibly could. I managed to just barely catch Twilight, near the town's fountain in the center. I walked over, panting, and sat down. I just sat there, feeling bad for her, and all at once, she jumped on me, hugging me. I was highly confused, and blushing a bit behind my mask, but I wrapped my arms around her, and did my best to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, Mata Nui, i just needed someone to hug," She said, looking down, and away. I looked her in the eyes.

"Everyone needs love and compassion, every once in a while." I said. She gave me a look of misunderstanding, and then I added, "I mean, every_pony_." She giggled lightly at this, and I let her loose. She dropped down, and we started walking towards her house/the library.

* * *

We arrived, as Twilight and I finished our small conversation. "I never thought being showered with favors could be so aggravating." I looked at her, and nodded my head.

"Tell me about it. I get the feeling it isn't over though." I said to her, as I opened the door, to a quite random sight. Fluttershy and her Rahi-like friends were cleaning the library, Fluttershy herself humming a tune. "Why can't I be wrong, once?" I said, to no one in particular. Twilight's ears drooped, and she frowned."Fluttershy, not you, too..." She said, looking quite upset. Fluttershy must have heard her, and turned to talk to her.

"Oh, well, hello, Twilight. I hope you don't mind, but we're all doing a little spring cleaning." This stumped me, although I couldn't get mad over someone so innocent. "But, isn't this the season of summer?" I asked, politely.

"Yeah, it _is_ summer." Twilight said, very annoyed at the actions of all her friends today, to which, I couldn't blame her.

"Oh." Fluttershy said, "Better late than never, right?" She blushed cutely, and I almost had another "D'aaaaaaw" moment, to which I lightly shook my head. "I-it was Angel's idea," She said, turning her head to a small rabbit, tossing a... sal-lad, is it called?

Out of nowhere, Click bounded out of my chestplate, and skittered down my arm, chattering angrily at the rabbit. It got an annoyed face, and attempted to squish him with the eating utensil he had, a rounded one. I put my hands over Click, and groaned at the rabbit. He put his paws up, in an "Ok, you win" Fashion, and went back to the salad. "So that's where you were." I said to my insectoid friend.

He chittered happily, and crawled back in there.

"You're not doing this for the ticket, are you?" Twilight said to her. Fluttershy blushed a bit more, and replied:

"Oh, no, I'm doing this because you're my very best friend." She smiled brightly, and turned. "Right, Angel?" The rabbit basically gave her a thousand-yard stare, and she turned back. "Oh, yes, we are just doing this for the ticket." Angel scooted over, and presented the sal-lad to Twilight. I scowled down at him, and commented, "Do you even get to go?" He stuck his tongue out at me, and I had half-a-mind to show him the mask...

I changed my focus off of him, and turned to Twilight."At least she was honest, y'know?" I said to her, and she looked severely irritable.

"well, this was very nice of you and Angel," She said, going towards the door, and opening it, "But I'm not accepting any more offers until I've made my final decision." She pointed towards the door. "So, I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" Suddenly, a loud "Surprise!" sounded outside, by the door.

"Oh boy, here's Pinkie's turn," I commented, dryly as Twilight was ripped out the door by a pink hoof. I merely went to the kitchen, and got a glass of water. I was feeling rather thirsty, for some reason. As I walked back, I could hear faint singing, and looked over to Fluttershy, who shrugged, and rolled her eyes, smiling. I smiled, and walked out the door.

"Maybe she'll give her ticket to the gala to meee~!" Pinkie sang, fluttering through the air. I noticed Twilight suspended in the air by several ponies.

"PIINKIIE!" She screamed incredibly loudly. I almost had to cover my... ears, are they? nonetheless, the ponies let her go, and I jumped forward, catching her before she could touch the ground. She smiled at me, then I set her down, and she returned to what she was doing. "Yes, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, fluttering her eyes at a very rapid speed.

"At least the other ponies tried to be subtle about the ticket!" She said, which was true, although I wish they'd end this feud. At this point a random pony spoke up. "Wait. What ticket? What Gala?" My eyes went wide, and I somehow learned a second language, probably from the mask's ability to scan the universe at will.

"Ach, scheiße," I said, in a voice that almost didn't sound like me. "What the..." I had no more time to comment about the sudden dialogue change.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Pinkie said, and I realized what might happen just now. I tried to speak up. "Pinkie, no, don't tell them!" I said, but she didn't listen.

"Twilight's got an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala!" At this, the entire crowd repeated the name, and began closing in. I was pushed slightly away, and I noticed Twilight and Spike getting bogged down, by bundles of mares. The ponies were all suggesting various favors, and compliments, and they were eventually trapped in a group.

"What are we gonna do?" Spike said, as I managed to just barely overhear him over the crowd of semi-insane ponies. "Consider it covered, Spike!" I shouted over the mares, and burst into action once more.

I stepped back, and dashed forward, and leapt up into the air as high as I could. I was able to clear the ponies, and land just over Twilight and spike. I felt my perception slow, and (to me it was like slow-motion) I grabbed both in midair, rolled to my feet, and bounced over the other side. I hit the ground running, and ramped up to maximum speed. I could hear the slight rumble of the hooves of the ponies following us, and began to think quickly on the go.

_'ok, it's obvious I won't be able to outrun these ponies, considering my bipedal versus their quadrupedal gate, so our best chance is to hide.'_ I rounded a corner, and there was Applejack's cart full of food. _'Perfect.'_ I launched me and the others behind it, and watched carefully as the group tore past us. I sighed in relief, but I learned soon, it wasn't over.

A pony came out of a house, opening the door's top half, and pointed, saying, "There she is!" I mentally sweat-dropped, and began to get up, and another pony, who came out of the applecart, surprised me, and I fell back, and dropped Twilight and Spike. They landed on there feet, and started running. I looked back shortly, and the group was charging us again. I got to my feet and ran qucikly after the two. A short while later, I lost them for a bit.

I saw a purple mare walking a miniature carriage across the road, and stopped. The crowd tore past again, and the mare pulled off her hood, revealing herself as Twilight, and then, Spike in the crib. I mentally laughed, but looked up, and a random pony had noticed Twilight. "Scheiße," I said, under my breath, and turned on my heels. The others had already began running, so I quickly stepped up to match their pace.

They were running towards a bridge when the group overtook me, and threw me to the ground. As I stood up, and walked over a bridge, I realized I'd lost them, and began looking around. I heard a splash below me, and leaned over, to see Twilight hanging underneath, and Spike, sitting in the water. I grabbed Twilight's hoof, and she grabbed Spike by magic, and I pulled them both up. I set them on the bridge, the ponies noticed us again, and I dropped the bombshell, so to speak, and began running at a speed almost unmatched by any of the earth ponies. I rounded a corner, and dropped behind an excessively large garbage bin.

As the group passed, I looked around the corner, to see Twilight and Spike posing as manneqins inside a clothing shoppe, and they bolted shortly after, and I followed. Finally, we ran down an alley, which proved to be our wronging, as it was a dead end. I turned to run, but noticed the ever-approaching mare squad. I began wishing we were back at the library, and I felt the mask of life energizing. In a magnificient burst of bright gold energy, I somehow activated the mask, and when I opened my eyes, we were in the Library!

Spike's skin and scales appeared slightly singed, and he groaned, saying, "Warn us next time you're gonna do that..." I looked down at him for a second.

"I'm sorry spike, but I didn't know it was going to happen," I said to him, "But it saved us, didn't it?" Twilight suddenly cut me off.

"It doesn't matter! Quick, lock the doors!" She said, and I went after the windows to the left side of the house. I closed and locked one, and put out the lights outside of it beforehand. Shortly later, we met back in the front room, and we sat for a second, glad that we were safe.

It was almost as if the mask had activated another mask power, because I could suddenly "hear" where things were, and I could sense five masses of unusualy proportion for a library. I turned and flicked the switch, and I saw the others standing atop the nearby ledge, smiling. Twilight let out an ear-splitting scream, which was multiplied 10-fold to me, as the mask, as I had figured, had temporarily given my the Kanohi Arthron's mask power, and I passed out, slipping into darkness.

* * *

**MATA NUI'S DREAM**

* * *

_I was standing near the tree that Twilight called home. I could see a blue-clad figure walk up to me, and a green, broad-shouldered figure next to the blue one. As their faces cleared, I recognized Hahli, and Kongu. They stared holes through me, and finally the green one spoke up._

_"What is this? Who are you?" He said, as the Hahli shrugged. I was amazed at the mask's abilities._

_"The mask must be giving us the ability to communicate subconsciously," I said, and Kongu looked at me strangely. _

_"Wait, you have the mask of life... Does that mean-" He said, but the female blue warrior finished for him._

_"Mata Nui..." She said in awe. They began to bow, but I pulled them both back up. "Now isn't the time," I said. I looked up. "I know this is a dream, and I know you hear me, mask. Explain this."_

_Once again, the mask spoke in it's omni-present, genderless voice. "We have brought these two toa to equestria to assist you in your journey. The only reason We haven't brought the others is because Teridax discovered our plan." I was confused, and Hahli asked my question for me:_

_"Why are you speaking like there are more than one of you?" She said, hitting the metaphorical nail on the head. It was shortly silent._

_"That isn't important. Just understand this. When you wake up, come to the place you are standing by. There, you shall unite, and begin the final journey..." I felt myself slipping into consciousness._

* * *

**BACK TO REALITY**

* * *

I awoke with a start, sitting up boltright, and the others seemed to have jumped. I rubbed my head, and held my eyes closed. I felt soft hooves grab my left shoulder, and opened my eyes. Fluttershy was trying to help me up. I stood back up, a bit shakily at first, and I looked about. " What'd I miss?"

Twilight took a bit of time to explain that they had made up, and she had returned two of the three tickets. "I'm still having you go, Mata Nui. I can't be selfish, and let such a good chance go past."

I took the ticket, and thought for a second, before I stood up. I let it go. In one fell swoop, I drew my sword and cut the ticket clean in half. Twilight looked shocked, upset even, until I smiled at her. "If everyone's not going, then neither am I." I said, defiantly. They all gathered round, and we shared a group hug. Spike pointed towards his throat, and suddenly, got a gagging face on. "Wow, Spike." I said.

"Well, wallow my willow, Spike. Isn't that just like a boy, can't handle the least bit of sentiment," Applejack said, walking towards him. He suddenly burped violently, and she ducked, her hat going just over the magic flame. "Whoa, nellie!"

As the letter materialized, I caught it, and unraveled it to read. I cleared my throat, and read, "_My faithful student, Twilight Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"_ As I read, the magic formed seven slips of paper. "Well, I'll be damned," I swore silently to myself. I pulled the seven golden tickets to the Gala, and held them out. "Seven tickets. I wonder..." I read the rest of the letter to myself, and chuckled heartily at Celestia's subnote.

"What's funny?" Asked Pinkie, and I showed her the subnote. "P.S., I figured Mata Nui would destroy his out of fairness, so I included one extra." She laughed at this, and everyone else joined in, minus spike, who looked a bit depressed.

"This calls for celebratory action!" I exclaimed. "Who'd like some dinner?" I said, and pulled out the decent amount of "Bits" Celestia had given me, as Rarity spoke up.

"That's a wonderful idea, but you're not paying. We all will chip in a bit, minus you, Twilight, and Spike. Our treat, for ruining your day." She said, and the others nodded happily. I just smiled.

As we were leaving, I noticed Spike acting depressed. "Come on, Spike, out with it," I said calmly to him. He looked up.

"How come I don't get a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala?" He said sadly. Right then, he puffed up a bit, and belched loudly, releasing a large flame. I caught the letter a second time, read it quickly, and handed it to him. He gave it a once-over, then grabbed a ticket out of it, and ran out the door giggling "In a girly way", as he'd say. I laughed at the irony, and closed the door to the Library.

* * *

We went to the restaurant we had went to earlier. Each of the girls ordered their things, making sure Twilight got something. Spike didn't get an order. "Are you sure, Spike?" Twilight asked him.

"Yeah, I'm sure. They don't have gems anyway," He responded disdainfully. I suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Spike, what's your favorite gemstone?" I asked him, formulating a plan to satisfy his "lust" for sparkly rocks.

"Sapphires, definitely!" He said, rubbing his hands together, and licking his licks, drooling at the same time.

"Then you're going to love this." I said. I stood up, and began to activate the mask's powers. "Together, our power is great, and as one mind, it's endless," I said, while linking minds with the mask. I tapped into the mask's various abilities, and found the powers of the Mask of Creation. "Here goes nothing!" I exclaimed out, and began focusing air molecues together. I held my hands in a bowl shape, and used the Mask of Creation's ability to shape obects out of air, literally, in this case, and began pulling carbon molecules together, and putting them under extreme heat and pressure.

A short time later, the molecules had solidified into a double-fist-sized Sapphire. As I relinquished the mask's power, I fell to my knees, and just caught the sapphire. I looked at it, and looked up to spike, who was frozen in a stare at me. I held the sapphire up to his claws, which he took slowly. "If you just made this, isn't it artificial?" Like you'd care Spike.

"It's no less natural than this table," I referenced the mushroom. He licked the gem, and his eyes lit up, and he began chowing noisily into the stone. I smiled, and managed to pull myself up into the seat. Fluttershy flew over, gently.

"Are you ok? You passed out earlier, and you collapsed just now," she said, genuinely nervous for me.

"I'm fine. Before, the mask had temporarily given me the ability to sense sonic waves, using a mask power of Sonar. When Twilight screamed, it sounded like a sonicboom happening right in front of me. Just now, I tapped into one called the Mask of Creation, giving me the ability to create things from literal thin air, at the expense of quite a bit of energy. That's why I fell down, it drained me." I explained, and she patted my shoulder, nodded, and fluttered back to her seat.

I ordered the "Angel Mane Pasta with Alfredo Sauce" I had before, and got to enjoy it this time. I have to learn to make that. Twilight got her sandwich from before. We enjoyed our meal in what was nearly silence. That is, minus the insanity of Pinkie.

I noticed Twilight staring into the distance later on. "Something wrong, Twi?" I asked, using her nickname.

"Not much, just a bit... homesick, is all," She said, looking towards what was probably Canterlot's direction. "I'm sorry to hear that, but it's natural. I definitely know home-sickness." I said, in response. That much was true, I knew homesickness. I was an unknown distance from my body, MY universe, and my people... how it must have been to be enslaved by the Makuta. I was angry towards him, so angry, that I was ready to kill him when I had the chance.

Rainbow spoke up. "Well, considering you're not even in your own universe, that's true," She said, and the others nodded in agreement. I looked up, towards the golden sky, as it was sunset, and began to let a bit more of my story go.

"I was a powerful being, beholden to none. I had the welfare of an entire universe on my hands, and I let them down..." I looked back down, suddenly finding my feet very interesting, and Rainbow hopped over.

"Mata Nui, if you can tell us, I want to know what happened." She said, and when I looked in her eyes, I noticed she was determined to get her answers. I smiled at her resiliance.

"Fair enough. I know you all understand about my original body, and that I had beings within it, who functioned in a similar manner to blood. They were mostly small beings, called matoran. Matoran were about your height, and usually built and repaired me. Then there were the toa, whose job it was to defend the matoran, and me, against internal attack." I looked up, and continued. "Then there were various other races. The Skakdi warlords, various animals, called 'Rahi' there, and the other set of beings I had originally created: The Makuta."

"Why in Celestia's name did you make them, if they were going to overtake you?" Applejack questioned, to which I responded, "That wasn't their original purpose. They were to make and spread around Rahi, and that, they did, and did well. However, over time, they became jealous of the matoran, the toa, of me. One ambicious Makuta, by name of teridax, began to turn the Makuta against me. Eventually, they were all working together, minus one, Miserix, who was still truly loyal to me. Teridax had him shipped of to a deserted island, and chained with an alloy that could morph, as Makuta could shapeshift."

"Gosh, you accidently made the perceft enemy," Twilight said, as she was comprehending this better than anyone else.

"Indeed I did, and I was too blind to see it coming. I figured they would understand as a god, a deity, not as the machine I truly was. But one makuta, by name of Mutran, managed to find the one thing that proved to be my downfall."

"And what was that, Mata Nui? How could one thing be able to bring a god to its knees, figuratively speaking?" Fluttershy asked.

"A being by name of Tren Krom," I answered her. "He was my universe's ruler before my body was finished. He knew the Great Beings, my creators, and he alone knew of my true bodily form: A supercomputer. As you may, or may not, know, if a computer gets a virus, damage is done to it, correct?" Everyone but Pinkie nodded, as she didn't know how to use a computer. "Well, Mutran discovered Tren Krom's afterplace in my universe, on an island named after him. Tren Krom invaded Mutran's memories, and gave him what he desired, as much as Teridax: A way to take me down. He told Mutran of my true form, and my true weakness, a virus. Mutran then reported this to Teridax, who took his time preparing a computer virus."

I looked around, at each of them, to see if they were following what I was saying, and they all seemed to be following. "He assigned himself, along with every other Makuta, a different island to watch over. He, himself, had the island that was actually located directly above the CPU, or my brain, basically." I felt myself gain the past feeling of, "Stupid thing to have done" type of feeling. "I was ignorant, I didn't see it coming, and as I was returning to my home planet, he discovered a terminal to the CPU, and planted the virus. Instantly, I could feel myself shutting down, and I was forced unconscious. I could still sense what had happened."

"Wow." Said Rarity, "I sometimes wonder, how are you mentally stable after all of that?" I looked in her direction.

"I don't know, Rarity. It may just be my will to save them, pushing me forward, not letting me fall. I slept upon that planet, known as Aqua Magna, for over a thousand years. Finally, the brave Toa Nuva, the toa whose sole destiny was to save me, and the Toa Mahri, who were to save my life, revived me. However, because I had died for a short time, Teridax, in an energy form, had slipped into my brain, and when I was awoken, I was only in control for about 40 seconds, before teridax took complete control."

The others almost seemed in tears, even Rainbow looked a bit misty-eyed. "He forced my spirit into the mask, and launched me out of my universe. I remember what I said, shortly there after." I looked up, and felt a tear, my own, organic, true-felt tear, slip down my face, and, for the first time ever, my voice cracked, and I had a hard time speaking, "I will return... I will save you all..." I finally let go, and the tears were free-flowing from me.

It wasn't until the others notice I was crying they broke down. Pinkie looked over, and walked up, and hugged me. "You're brave, Mata Nui, and it wasn't your fault for what happened. Please, don't cry." I was touched, and I managed a smile.

"You really are the most cheering-up pony in Ponyville, aren't you?" I said. The others had now joined me for a group hug. I felt truly sad, but also truly happy. I looked up. "With you girls, I have something not everyone gets: A second chance. I can still fix it, all it will take is time." I said, and the others let go from their group hug. "Alright, that's enough sentiment for one night, we should all rest," I said, yawning slightly.

"Yeah, it's been a crazy day. I'm beat," Rainbow said, stretching her forehooves out, and flying up. "I'll see you guys later."

Fluttershy spoke up next. "Yes, I should probably go, too. I need to tuck in Angel-Bunny to bed. Goodnight girls," She said, then said, "And Mata Nui." She smiled towards me, blushing a bit. I smiled back.

"Goodnight, Fluttershy. I hope your dreams are soft, peaceful, and beautiful," I said, unintentionally describing her. She nodded, and fluttered away.

"Yeah, it's time for me to hit the hay, y'all," Applejack said, standing up and yawning. "G'night, everypony."

Pinkie started bouncing. "I wish we didn't have to go yet, but oh well!" She said, and hopped home, calling to tell us goodnight.

Rarity was the last to leave the group. "One does need her beauty sleep. And I, for one, definitely do!" she said, exhuberantly. "Ciao."

I looked to Twilight. "Shall I walk you home?" I said, to which she nodded.

"Sure, just let me get Spike." She said. Spike had fallen asleep, his face resting on the "table", and looking quite happy. She levitated him to her back, and set him down. I noticed he hadn't ate all the sapphire, and was clutching it in his claws. I smiled, and held out my arm in a gentlemanly fashion, telling Twilight to go first. She smiled, blushing a little, and began walking.

"Wow, Spike sure was glad at what you did. I bet if there's any more gem eating dragons," Twilight said, "You could open a shop, and sell them!"I chuckled at this a bit, and looked up.

I wonder if there are anymore. Dragons like Spike... I looked down to see we were approaching the library, the only landmark I really knew in Ponyville, minus my house. I walked over, and opened the door, and said, "Have a good night, Twilight, and I hope you have good dreams."

She smiled, nodded, and walked in. I closed the door behind me, and began walking towards my house.

* * *

When I reached my house, I removed my basic armor, and settled in for bed. As I settled down, I looked out the window. I noticed, on a tree outside, there was a circle, with an X through it, etched almost perfectly into the tree. I didn't take any more thought to it, and fell sound asleep.


	5. Chapter 4: Applebuck Season

I awoke to a refreshed feeling. I think I had a dream, but it was foggy. Wait, that was yesterday! All at once, yesterday's final occurences hit me.

Two toa have came to Equestria, courtesy of the Mask, although they have yet to make a physical appearance. Toa Hahli, Guardian of the Tides, and Toa Kongu, Master of the Winds. Two of the Toa Mahri here, the other three surviving ones remained, likely confused about their friend's disappearances. But it can't be helped, as the Mask of Life had a reason to bring them here. I sat up, and rolled over to my feet.

"Eh, I need breakfast," I said to no one in particular, and stood up. I walked over to the table I placed my armor, and noticed it was a bit dusty from the past couple days. _'I should probably clean these.'_ I picked up my armor in my arms, and walked out of my back door. I remember a river near here...

I was surprised when I felt the ground shaking, almost like an earthquake, and looked up. I noticed several Rahi-creatures, who resembled Kane-Ra bulls, streaking towards me, and the town. I didn't think about my next action. I began sprinting towards the town placing my armor on, I willed my legs to move even faster, just to outrun the beings.

I arrived in town square long before the stampede, and noticed rainbow. She saw me and flew down to me. "Hey Mata Nui, what's up? Why are you breathing so hard?" Rainbow's next comment confused me profusely, as she narrowed her eyes slyly and gave me a crooked grin, whilst saying, "Ya been _doing_ something?" I narrowed my eyes, still panting, and tried to speak.

"Rainbow... seriously... I need... to tell... the town-" I suddenly felt the familiar ground shaking. "No, I'm too late!"

Rainbow floated up, and looked on the horizon for a moment. she must have seen the creatures, as she shouted, "Stampede!" At this, the town went into pure blitzing chaos, everyone running to their houses. I suddenly remembered, My house was in the way of the stampede! '_I don't have time to think about that!'_ I rushed towards the edge of town, ready to fend off the rahi, if I must. I found the others.

Pinkie was allowing herself to be bounced rapidly by the stampede's earthquaking. "H-e-e-y! Th-is m-akes m-y vo-ice so-und si-illy-y!" She said, her voice sounding like a jackhammer.

Twilight spoke up, "Pinkie are you crazy? Run!" I looked up towards the cattle(I learned they were called this) and drew my sword, assuming a defensive stance. I was gonna defend them with my life, although I severely hoped this wouldn't be the case. As I readied a "Bovine Intervention" of sorts, the Mayor Mare was attempting to calm everyone down, to no avail.

"Calm down, everypony! There is no need to panic!" She said, as all of Ponyville merely ran around screaming.

"Oh, but Mayor," Said Rarity, rather dramatically, "What ever shall we do?" The Mayor didn't have a clue what to say. Then, Rainbow Dash interrupted them, and drew my attention.

"Look there!" She hollered, and I followed her gaze, into the cow crowd, and noticed an orange blur, running beside them. AppleJack!

"It's Applejack! She must be trying to stop them!" I shouted over the noise to the others, who began to cheer randomly, Pinkie holding a flag with Applejack's cutie mark. I noticed Applejack using a certain contingency plan matoran Kane-Ra herders used, except instead of her furred animal, they'd use trained Kavinika as mounts, and "Put up" the lead bull, which involved one distracting it, and another throwing a chain, or rope in this case, around its neck, and pulling hard. As they began to perform the strategy, everyone else was a bit nervous at the fact of how close the stampede was now. Minus Pinkie.

"This is the best rodeo show I've ever seen!" She said, and shoved her head into a bowl of some food. '_great beings, Pinkie Pie.' _I muttered within my brain, and began to pray Applejack succeeded. I noticed Applejack spring upon one of the cows, and grab a rope. She threw it around the lead cow's neck, and jumped off, pulling right as hard as she could. I put my blade away, and began running to catch up, as she finally brought the herd to a stop.

As I ran up, Applelack spat out the rope, and said, "Hoo Whee! Now what was that all about?" I didn't understand why she said this. Surely, this was a plain old animal, like her... Dog, was it?

Apparently I was wrong. The creature belted out its ever-familiar "Moo" sound once, before clearing its throat. "Oh, my," It said to my surprise, "Begging your pardon, Applejack, but Moo-rietta here" I inwardly chuckled at the pronounciation "Saw one of them nasty snakes!" With this, all the cows jumped up, and Applejack's dog double-took, and I instantly had my hand on my sword pommel. "And it just gave us all the willies, don'tcha know?" The "cow" finished.

Applejack, while I wasn't expecting this response, said, "I completely understand. Just next time, try an' steer clear of Ponyville."

"We certainly will, Applejack. So long winona!" Said the cow, and walked away with the rest of the herd. Applejack turned, and, as she apparently hadn't see me earlier, was surprised.

"Howdy, Mata Nui. What's up?" She said, I was surprised, myself, at the fact that she wasn't out of breath. I smiled, and replied:

"Watching an amazing scene. That was incredible, just now! Where'd you learn to do that?" I said.

"Aw, shucks," She said, blushing, "It was nothing. Just doing my duty." She looked towards ponyville, where she noticed everyone cheering for her.

"I'll leave you to your adoring fans," I said, and walked back towards Ponyville, meeting up with the others. As I approached the others, I could hear their speech about Applejack.

"YeeHAW!" said Pinkie, as she began to bounce around, "Ride 'em, cowpony!" I inwardly chuckled, seeing her crazy displays.

The mayor came over to talk to us. "Applejack was just... just..."

"Apple-tastic?" I said, taking a guess on what Pinkie was about to say.

"YEAH!" She said, as she randomly appeared upside down beside the mayor, then fell to the ground. I actually laughed this time, she's always so random.

"Exactly. We must do something to thank Applejack, for single-hoofedly saving the town," said the Mayor. I immediately knew what would be said.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Pinkie Pie?" I said, mischieviously. She smiled brightly and began bouncing around again. "A Party!" we said, in unison. I figured, I may as well be upbeat about being here. Theres no need to worry about my Universe If I can't help it at the moment...

My brain began to swirl around the dark thoughts again. Makuta... The matoran, at his mercy... No, I must not be troubled by this right now! I will find a way to pull this off, so help me.

"That sounds like a plan!" Said the Mayor, As I shook my head to clear my thoughts, "Now we need to assign jobs, to care for the party."

Rarity spoke up, "I'll do the decorating. I already have some ideas." Not gonna argue there, she's the best of any of us for that.

"I'll cater! There'll be cookies, cupcakes, cake, waffles, bagels, ice cream, yogurt, (If anyone wants it) fudge-" I put a hand to Pinkie's muzzle, to stop her.

"You've made your point, Pinkie," I said. She giggled through my hand, and I released her muzzle gently.

Fluttershy calmly made her way forward."U-uh, I-I could do the m-music, miss m-Mayor," she quietly stuttered out, and I couldn't help but think how cute she was-

_'Here my brain goes again,' _I thought, _'Off on another tangent. Get it together, Mata Nui, for Angonce' sake!'_

As I wondered why my brains were so strange now, Twilight spoke up, "I could ready a seminar for the party, to thank Applejack for her service!"

"I wonder what I could do..." I inquired out loud to myself. "I don't think I have another special doing." I was beginning to ponder it more, when I let out a loud gasp, as I had remembered: _'My house was in the stampede's way!'_

Before I could say anymore, Twilight and the others turned to me, and she asked, "Is something wrong, Mata Nui?"

"My house!" I said as I bolted, moving as fast as I could towards my house. _'For the sake of the Great Beings, let me be wrong...!'_ I didn't let up the whole way, meanwhile with Twilight and Rarity followed me on the ground, and Rainbow easily kept up with me in midair.

As I reached the top of the hill, I gasped in horror. My house, the little welcoming hut I had recieved not even three days ago... was nothing more than smitherenes. I collapsed to my knees, and let out a sigh.

"Son of a Muaka, why?" I said, as the others looked on in shock to my house. I remembered that my shoulder armor was still in there somewhere. I stood up quickly, and moved towards it. At least that's all that was here.

I began to sift through the wreckage, and I shortly caught a glimpse of golden metal. Two Pieces of my armor, my Shoulder Blades, had been buried under the southern wall, which had remained in one piece, until I got there. I grabbed the top part, and lifted it with some effort, raising it vertical. As I pushed it further, it teetered, and fell over, crumbling into pieces. I raised my left armor piece, dusted it off, and placed it on.

"Well," I said to no one, in particular, "At least these survived."

A day later, I entered into ponyville. I had told the others to leave me to clean my house-wreckage, and start on the party. I spent three and a half hours, give or take, moving the stone and wood my house had previously consisted of. I piled it up, in an organized manner. During that night, I had stayed with Twilight, sleeping on her couch out front. As I arrived, I noticed things going smoothly with the decorations. Rarity had just finished putting up some sort of banner, bearing several apples, for an obvious purpose.

As I walked up, I heard Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow talking. "I actually haven't seen her all day," Said Rainbow to the others.

"Not since the stampede," Pinkie added, smiling like usual.

"But she'll be here for sure," Rainbow threw out, "Applejack is never late!"

* * *

30 minutes or so later, just about the entire town was gathered around the town hall. Twilight made her way to the podium set up for the speech, shuffling several papers as she went. _'Every day she's shuffling,'_ I thought, chuckling inwardly at my own joke. I congradulate those who know what that means. She gave them a final stacking, and removed the top paper, and brought it to her line of sight.

"Welcome, everypony," she spoke, reading the page, "Today, we are here to honor a pony we can always count on, in matters great, and small!" she flipped to the next page. "A pony whose contributions to-" She was suddenly interrupted by rainbow dashing her head into Twilight's paper, and speaking through the microphone.

"Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there?! What an athlete!" she dropped over the podium, as Twilight rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from me. "This week, she's gonna help me with my new flying trick," She said, adding a wing flap for emphasis, "And I know it's gonna be _SO AWESOME!_" The last part of her sentence, her voice raised an entire octave, earning my laughter once again.

Twilight gave her a rather forceful shove, and said, "Exactly!" She "grabbed" her stack of papers, rearranged them, and began to talk again. "And-"

Once again, she was interrupted , by the omnipresent Pinkie Pie, jutting up suddenly from the podium, popping out in front of her. "This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time." I, like many other citizens, was lost immediately.

"What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight said, springing out diagonally from behind Pinkie, hoof on her... could one say, "hip"?

Pinkie looked at her, as if she were a deer staring at light, and blinked twice. She must have suddenly remembered, as she spoke up, "Oh! Applejack, one of the best bakers EVER " she pushed her face forward, to emphasize herself "Is gonna help me!" she stopped for a VERY short moment(In Pinkie Pie) standards) to smile, and resumed, "Applejack makes everything great, so FREE SAMPLES FOR EVERYPONY!" At this, most of the crowd cheered shortly.

Twilight walked up casually to Pinkie Pie, and gave her a light shove with her hoof. "That's great. Now if I could just make a point without being inter-" Ironically enough, she didn't get to finish.

I saw Fluttershy's head pop out from the base, but even being reletively close, and raising my "ear" sensors' abilities, I couldn't hear her. She was obviously talking to Twilight, that's all I knew.

"Rupted." Twilight finished, before Fluttershy shortly took her place at the podium.

"I'm soo sorry," Fluttershy directed mostly to Twilight, "But I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official Bunny Census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them with her wonderful herding skills." The look Twilight gave her made me glare. She must have sensed my eyes, because her's locked with mine, and she smiled sheepishly, then returned to a slight frown.

"Anyone else?" She asked in an irritated tone. Fluttershy sank down away from her, and out of sight. "Anyone?" As we momentarily heard a short cough in the audience, she must have taken this for a "No". "No? Well then, as I was trying to say-" She looked down, and saw the mayor, smiling a very large grin, and Twilight merely stared for a moment, before groaning out of frustration and anger, and letting her papers basically explode everywhere. "Nevermind!" Acting immediately, on a slight whim, the Mask triggered the Kanohi Matatu's power to telekinetically grab the papers, order them, stack them up, and place them down.

As she stepped off the stage, the Mayor Mare took her place. "And so, with no further adeu, It is my privilege to give the Prized Pony of Ponyville award" She waved a hoof towards a rather impressive trophy "To our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and intergrety, Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend, Applejack!" Everyone began to cheer as the mayor pointed to a curtain. However, when the curtains opened, much to everyone's surprise, there was nothing there!

I had distinctively remembered the last time I made the mistake of waiting too long, and I immediately drew my sword. "What magic is this?!" I called out. Spike hadn't noticed yet.

"Way to go Applejack that was awesom-" he stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him. As everyone, including the Mayor, looked around for a sign of the farm pony, I heard Spike say, "A~awkward." _'Gotta agree with you there, spike.'_ The mayor cleared her throat, and everyone looked around again.

"I'm here!" We all heard Applejack's voice from behind the crowd. "I'm here!" She yawned loudly after this, and continued, "Sorry I'm late, I was just-" she must have bumped into someone, and made a funny noise, then said, "-Did I get your tail?" just as she got to the steps, she tripped, and got back up, climbing up to the podium. "Miss Mayor, thank ya kindly-" She accidently pushed the Mayor off of the podium "for this here award, thingy." she dropped down, yawning, and walked over to the trophy. "It's so bright and shiny." She started to laugh as she looked at what I'm guessing is her reflection in the trophy.

"I sure do look funny, hehe," she said, staring at the trophy. She proceeded to make a "Woo" noise over and over again, looking at her shifting reflection. Pinkie magically joined her seconds later, doing the same thing and giggling.

"O-kay," Said Twilight, smiling at her friends' silliness. "Well," she added, "thank you, Applejack, for saving us from that scary stampede. And always being there for everypony." I returned my gaze to Applejack, who yawned loudly, and I'm guessing the puffy eyes are telltale signs of no sleep?

"Yeah, I like helping the pony folks... and stuff," She said, yawning again. She actually fell asleep standing up for a second, before startling herself awake. "Yeah, thanks." She grabbed the trophy's handle with her teeth, and began pulling it away, with it grinding and dragging with her.

I walked up towards the other. I spoke up as I reached them. "Am I the only one who noticed she looked rather..." I couldn't find a word at that time.

"Tired?" inquired Rainbow Dash.

"Dizzy?" muttered Fluttershy.

'Messy?" Of course, that was Rarity. Everyone stopped to look at her for a moment. "Well, did you _see_ her mane?"

Pinkie bounced up to Twilight. "She seemed fine to me! Woo! Woo!" She made the noises she and Applejack had been making whilst staring at the trophy. I chuckled at her crazyness. Twilight looked over towards me.

"Should we check up on her?" I asked tha group. Fluttershy was the first to respond.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mata Nui, but I really need to go get the Bunny Census ready. I promise I'll help next time." She said softly, and she then floated over and hugged me. I blushed slightly under my helmet.

"Ok, I understand. Anyone busy today?" I said to the others as Fluttershy flew off.

"I got a stunt of awesomeness that I need to set up, so I can't come help yet." As she began to fly away, she fluttered over to me, and whispered, "P.S., I saw you blush." Angonce-damn it. Well, that's going to be a pain for a while. I must have blushed a second time, as she said, "I saw that, too...," With a cheeky smile. With a poke on what would be considered my "nose", she flew away rather rapidly.

"well, son of a Muaka," I muttered under my breath, startling myself at the return of that language again. Damnable Mask of Translation. I regained my composure, and looked back towards the others. "Any other takers?" I remembered something. "Pinkie, don't you have to run Sugarcuz... Sugarcow... ugh, that place you work at, today?"

"Oh yeah! Gotta go!" At this, she shot off like a cannon, tearing towards her workplace. I looked towards Rarity.

"I'd come, but I'd rather not muddy my hooves in those fields," She said, looking anxiously at her hooves.

"Then don't worry, I'm sure Twilight and I can handle her, ourselves," I said to her, smiling. She said "Thank you," hugged me, and began walking home. "Ok, let's see if we can wrangle us up a pony," I said to Twilight.

* * *

The walk to Sweet Apple Acres was fairly undetailed, just, well, walking. As we approached, I saw Big Macintosh, I think his name was, resting on the porch. he had a bandage around his body, so I'm guessing he'd been injured. "Howdy, there, big fella." He said towards me.

"Can you direct me to where Applejack is, I kinda need to talk to her." He pointed towards their western field. "Thank you."

"Eeyup." He said, as I walked off with Twilight.

A short walk later, we found an area where lots of apples had been picked, or bucked, I think. It wasn't long until we found Applejack hard at work, although looking very tired. She'd just bucked two trees, and she then attempted to buck a nonexistant tree. "I think we should intervene, don't you, Twilight?... Twilight?" I looked to my right, but she had suddenly disappeared!

She had teleported her way over to Applejack, and was trying to reason with her. For a short time, I watched her attempt to get Applejack to listen to reason, which failed when she accidentally said AJ couldn't do it, "alone" being the key word Applejack missed. After a moment of Applejack having a spaz-out over this, she walked away."Any headway?" I asked, wondering if my pony friend had gotten anything out of that.

"Nope, nothing," She said, looking rather disappointed. I furrowed my brow at this. "She won't listen to reason at all." She added, as I reached down to stroke her mane.

"Take it easy, Twilight," I told her, "You need to rest some. Why don't you go home, and take a break, and I'll brainstorm a bit?"

She closed her eyes in thought, and finally said, "Ok." She opened her eyes, and looked up at me. I smiled, and she smiled as well.

"Come on, let me walk you home." I said, and we started towards her house.

As we walked towards the town, I felt a faint presence, and my eyes darted to the left. I swear, before it went behind a tree, I swear I saw a toa, with a black body, long, lanky arms, and a bright white face looking towards me. I shook my head, and looked around from the tree, and it just wasn't there.

_'What in the world was that? That didn't look like anything I've ever seen...'_ I thought to myself, wondering, deeply wondering. This is when I proceeded to run into a tree.

After I'd hit it, I stepped back. Twilight jumped and looked up at me. "Mata Nui! are you ok?" she asked me.

"Yeah, just thinking too hard," I said, and with that, we kept walking.

* * *

As we walked into town, I thought of something. "Hey, Twilight? do you have any books on, per se, urban legends?"

She looked up at me. "Oh, sure! I probably have a ton of books on such things. Why do you ask?"

I quickly thought of a cover-up for the REAL reason. "Uh, just wanting to read something" was the first thing that came to mind.

"Ok, when we get there, we'll look for one, ok?" I nodded, and thanked her.

Upon arrival to the Treebrary (as I had started calling it), We walked in to find Spike hard at work, rearranging books and the like. "Hey, Spike, think you can get a book for Mata Nui here?" Twilight asked Spike.

"Oh sure, What're you looking for, Mata Nui?" he asked towards me, hopping off of a ladder.

"I want a book based around common Equestrian urban legends," I said, "particularly a recently published one."

"Coming right up!" he said, and hopped back up the ladder cheerfully. Twilight sat down and looked up at me.

"So, how come you decided to get a book on such a mysterious thing, Mata Nui?" Twilight said to me.

"I figure," I began, "Since the Great Beings' presence here on Equestrus Magna was linked to a, well, not-so-urban legend. Perhaps more legend pertain such secrets." I said, making a white little lie, to cover my real reason.

"Well, give me a moment, then, and I shall help Spike look," said my star-flanked friend, and made her way over to a bookshelf labeled "U", for "urban", I suppose. I sat lightly on a stool, and began thinking over my whole day so far.

_'I really have no clue as to what that slender creature was, but maybe that book can forwarn me. It seemed to be making an attempt to avoid me.' _ Before I could think much further, Twilight came trotting over to me, levitating a book.

"Here, Spike found this, it may help. It's titled '_The Many, Many Legends of Equestria: Old and New._' This is sure to give you some ideas towards this, well, research of yours." She said, smiling. I gently pulled the book from her "grasp", and looked it over.

"Thank you twilight, I hope that this can truly assist me." I said, nodding and smiling back. She gave another playful grin, and trotted into her kitchen, presumably getting food of some sort for herself.

I noticed the book was similar to an encyclopedia, so I started near the first page. Certain pages had various pictures, and I began skimming through, paying more attention to pictures. For maybe 30 minutes, I bounced from page to page, coming across a small, green pony-like creature which legendarily fed on love, to a large, multi-creature mashup known to be a symbol of pure chaos. I was flipping through the "S" section, when a certain picture made me double-take. It was, and only could have been, that thing from Sweet Apple Acres! I noticed a caption, stating to flip the page, and I did so, where I began reading aloud softly.

"The SlenderMan, a legend based off of another legend, the Human race, which supposedly existed before Equestrian times. The SlenderMan is allegedly the cause of many deaths in humanoid youths, known to be a trafficker of souls to Tartarus." I took a guess, and figured Tartarus was their equivelent of Karzahni. "It is depicted as an incredibly tall male human, wearing a suit, or so it appears. Very few have a true picture of it, for those who have ever witnessed it first-hand were never seen or heard of again..." This began to worry me, not so much for myself, but more-so towards the girls. I fear what may happen if I'm not there to protect them.

"'If you have ever, EVER seen it,' Said a book from what is believes to been human times, 'Say your goodbyes to your loved ones, and run. If it has allowed you to see you, it wants you to know you're its prey, and will stop at nothing to take your sou...'" I didn't have the guts to finish reading. I was silently hoping this was false.

Twilight came back into the room at this time. She was carrying a sandwich of some sort. When she saw me she asked, "Mata Nui, Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

I looked up at her, and smiled nervously and shakily. "I assure you, nothing's wrong, Twilight. I just had a dark thought cross my mind." Indeed, something was wrong, but I simply couldn't tell her, well, this!

She looked at me, as if debating with herself towards her next words, and finally said, "Well, if you're sure, then OK."

_'I'm not, but it'll be fine' _ "Don't worry, I'm sure." She smiled, and walked over, nuzzling me playfully. I laughed and petted her mane, feeling how soft and light it was. "Ok, then, I'm going to take my leave. Perhaps I may yet be able to help Applejack with her harvesting problems."

Twilight looked up at me, "Good luck, she's being more stubborn than a mule. I'll see you later, Mata Nui." I waved as I walked out the door.

As soon as she shut the door, I closed my eyes in thought. I wonder, is it true? could it be? well, perhaps.

I began to formulate a plan, and I considered the various options I had. Like the book said, pack my boat and head north. Or perhaps, maybe I have a fighting chance... I was the Great Spirit at one time. I figured this would be my strategy: simply bring the fight to it!

I soon heard a high-pitched scream, with a sound similar to Pinkie's voice. I immediately perked up, looking around. _'That tone had an elegant air to it. Wait... could it be...' _ I didn't finish my train of thought as another scream ripped the air. My eyes went wide. "...Fluttershy!"

* * *

To the townsfolk, something like me tearing through town at top speed had to be quite a sight, but I was in a rush. As I topped the bridge near Fluttershy's house, I felt a presence. It was dark, almost darker than Teridax', but it was... strange. I noticed a slight movement from the back edge of Fluttershy's cottage. I ran towards it, and what I saw nearly stopped my heart.

It. That... thing, could only be It. The SlenderMan had Fluttershy in its clutches. Tendrils seemingly made of shadows developed from its back, supporting her in midair. It appeared to be trying to interrogate her.

"**YOU." **said a voice that came from everywhere, from all of time and space, it lacked emotions, it lacked gender. It was simply there, and it was mind-boggling even to me, and mind-bending to any who heard it. "**YOU KNOW OF ITS WHEREABOUTS. WHERE IS IT?**"

She trembled visibly, knowing she was scared out of her wits. "W-w-w-w-w-wha-ha-ha-hat?" She was crying, solid streams of moisture flowing from her eyes. It suddenly hit me: what else what is looking for... than me? And I was going to give it what it wanted, just not_ how_ it wanted it.

"'It' is right here!" I shouted, somehow catching it off-guard and pulling my sword jumping high up in the air. It turned, and for a split second, I froze in midair. It's face was... what. what could describe it. blank. nonexistant, maybe. But I looked past it, and saw Fluttershy, and I could see the hope in her eyes. I forced myself back into combat mode, and in a split second made the decision to attempt to drive my sword into its chest.

This seemed to work, as I landed, with my sword rammed through its skinny ribcage, the blade extending a full two and a half feet from its back. Blood, jet-black blood, ran freely from the wound. It stopped, and released Fluttershy. Two tenticles from its back came towards me, and wrapped around my neck. I must have caught it off guard when I pulled the tendrils from my neck effortlessly, as if "He" was expecting weakness. It was now I decided to test the Mask's limits.

I pulled hard on the tendrils, bringing the creature close to me, and headbutting it. I then grabbed its shoulders to prevent it from escaping, and forced its forehead to contact the mask. As I began charging my power, It began to roar mentally in furious anger. "**NO. I WILL NOT FALL TO YOU. NOO-**" I cut it off.

"Don't be so melodramatic." I said, and let the energy burst loose. When the light that followed had faded, I could now see the creature clearly, as I had turned it to stone. I couldn't risk it, and even if it broke toa code, I had to.

I ripped my sword out of it, and summoned forth Click from my breastplate, and requested him to turn into shield forme. I then distanced myself from the "statue". I knew that the Scarabax Shield(I had decided to call it that) was if not completely, nearly indestructible. And, by the Mask, I could sense the presence of that creature still within stone. So, I held my shield, braced myself, and charged the statue. Right before I rammed it, I grabbed the shield handle with both hands, and, with a grunt, and all my power, extended my arms. I felt the stone shatter violently beneath the ProtoSteel of the shield, and the statue fell to pieces, the life-force going with it, as I ended the first of another being's life.

However, the noise it had made was nearly unbearable. The spirit, as it was forced into their Karzahni, Tartarus, let loose an ear-and-head-splitting noise, that I could only hear. This was the last thing I heard before blacking out.

* * *

As I came to, I could hear voices, faintly.

"...Utter..y...at...hap...ed"

"I...do...no...it...ju.. ...d"

I attempted to move, and found my head to be in extreme, EXTREME pain. As I lifted my head, the pain became unbearable! I ripped a bellowing yell, and clutched my head with enough force to shatter stone, which only added to the pain.

"Mata Nui!" I heard the voice of Twilight Sparkle, as she apparently rushed to my side(my eyes were clenched shut) and attempted to stop the pain. After a grueling 25-second period of magic, it stopped altogether.

I was breathing heavily, and I was in mental pain now, no longer physical. I rammed the wall on accident, putting my arm up to half-way up my upper arm through the wall. I was fading between halucinations and reality. I came back to my senses when Fluttershy grasped my shoulders and forcefully hugged me. "Please, calm down, Mata Nui!" She called, in what seemed like a loud whisper. I felt reality gain a foothold, and collapsed onto the seat I was previously on, exhausted.

"Mata Nui, can you tell me what in THE hay happened over there?! What was that statue?!" Twilight belted out, as knowledge-hungry as ever. I looked up at her, pointed at the book(ironically, where I had dropped it) and made the handsigns for "page 49". She stared at me for about 3 seconds before it came together, and then suddenly, her eyes shined a bit, and she levitated the book over and found the page.

"SlenderMan... based off the Human race... known to be a trafficker of souls to Tartarus.. incredibly tall male human, wearing a suit... those who witnessed it first-hand were never seen or heard of again...'Say your goodbyes to your loved ones, and run. If it has allowed you to see you, it wants you to know you're its prey, and will stop at nothing to take your soul...'" Twilight recapped from the book. She looked at me, mortified. "Is THIS what attacked you?" I could only nod, as I was to tired, I had not the energy to speak.

Fluttershy spoke up, softly, "Wait, I'd seen it before, and it didn't look harmful. But... that may explain why it came after me... Mata Nui, thank you..." She grabbed me again and hugged me prompting a light blush from her and I both.

I forced myself to speak, "Anyone would have done it, Fluttershy. I was merely doing my duty." My voice was raspy, but I still said with a smile.

She then looked at me with the widest, and, dare I say, cutest eyes I had EVER seen. "Then why did you alone help me?" This prompted the blush from beneath my mask to grow redder.

"Mata Nui, considering what I just read," Twilight put in, as I was ever-so-slightly thankful, "you are the bravest stallion I've ever met. This thing is notorious for stealing souls by LOOKING at beings, and you fought it in hoof-to -er, I mean, hand-to-hand combat. THAT ALONE, you should earn a reward." and then, very, VERY much to my surprise, she kissed my cheek... or more specifically, the Mask's cheek. Ironically, the mask triggered a nearly instantaneous curse that caused Twilight to turn pink for a fraction of a second. I Guess the Mask is still picky about being touched.

Neither of the other two noticed, so I left it out of context. I, then having my energy back slightly, questioned where Applejack was. It was time to get back to fixing a friend. I was informed by Twilight that she was supposed to help Rainbow Dash with her stunt in about an hour, and she STILL refused to accept help. "Mask," I said, looking up in no general direction, "Do you possess the powers of a mask of Translation?" This prompted a laugh from the two girls.

* * *

After walking Fluttershy home, ensuring her the "SlenderMan" was gone, and looking around town for 10 minutes, I found applejack. I pulled another mask power from the far reaches of my mind, and the mask triggered the abilities of the Kanohi Volitak, Mask of Stealth. I was merely walking, avoiding ponies, and being COMPLETELY undetected. I could have pulled some pranks, but I decided this was more important.

A moment later, Applejack had reached what looked like an inverted catapult with a high-rise over it. Applejack began to talk to Rainbow Dash, as I went into the shadows, released the mask power, and walked forward as if coming haphazardly from town. Rainbow had been standing on a fencepost, tapping her hoof impatiently. "There you are!" She said in Applejack's direction.

"I'm a might sorry, Rainbow," Applejack said to her with a yawn, "I was applebucking, and I guess I closed my eyes for a second and, when I re-opened them, I was late. So, what's this here stunt of yours, anyway?" Rainbow got excited and began to explain it all.

"Well, I'm going to stand down here, on this platform." She pointed her hoof towards it. "You're going to jump from there" she pointed to the high-rise "Onto here, launching me into the air faster than I can take off normally." she directed towards the other platform. "Once I'm in the air, I'm going to pull some a-_MAZ-ing_ stunts, rolls, and flips that are sure to impress the Wonderbolts!"

Applejack looked back at her with a slightly nervous face. "Don't ya think that's a might dangerous?" I walked forward, adding to that of what Applejack said.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash, that DOES seem a bit dangerous. This is coming from someone with a 4-extra-foot-stature over most of you ponies." I said as I walked forward. Rainbow looked up immediately, and Applejack looked up a second and a half later, obviously lagging behind with the comversation.

"Oh..." Applejack said, dozing off slightly, and re-awakening, "uh- What's up, big fella?" She asked me. I nodded at her, and turned back to rainbow. "You realize not all beings have wings, right?" I asked towards Rainbow Dash.

She looked over her shoulders, at her wings, and looked back up, smiling sheepishly and blushing a bit. "Well, it's not that big of a drop, is it?" I looked up, and ran a few calculations (By that, meaning several thousand. Being an android with a small moon-sized brain had its advantages), concluding that an earth pony, possibly I, could survive the jump relatively unscathed. "Well, I suppose not, I guess Applejack, being used to impacts, albeit backwards, is truly the best pony for the job." I said, and Rainbow smiled beamingly, to which I interjected, "HOWever, I WILL be staying here to supervise, just in case." She nodded, and hopped up on the ramp.

As Rainbow tested her little contraption, I experimented slightly with another power. I tapped into the first of what is considered an "Immoral" mask power, and tested the slight use of the Kanohi Crast, Great Mask of Repulsion, known for being worn by the makuta Krika, who died in the Makuta Invasion of Karda Nui, my chest cavity. I used it to see what it could do. I mentally targeted the ground, and pulsed it, and I went roughly two inches off the ground. However, I could feel the power it used. Until I studied it more, certain masks will probably require precision energy control training.

Applejack's first attempt to land the platform and supercharge Rainbow Dash's liftoff failed miserably, as she missed and slammed face-first into the ground. I jumped up, and rushed over, "Applejack, are you okay?!" I said as tried I hoisted her to her feet.

"I'm fine, just slipped a bit." She said, her responce muffled by the ground her face was stuck on. Rainbow trotted over, "Uh... Maybe I wasn't clear. You're supposed to land ON the platform."

Applejack literally pulled her face from the ground, with my help, and said, while still dazed, "Got it."

After a few attempts of Applejack jumping from the top of the basic machine to the bottom, Rainbow asked, "Applejack, what the _HAY_ is going on?! I mean, I thought I was working with ponyville's best athlete!" Applejack's eyes were facing in opposite directions, and I assumed she was horribly dazed yet. "You ARE!" She sighed, and continued, "I'm okay, really. And I have an idea. Watch this!" She slowly rose up, placed her front hooves on the platform, and forced it down slowly, with Rainbow still on one end, simply raising her in the air. "Tada!" she exclaimed afterwards. Rainbow Dash looked at her, highly unamused. "Oh. Ok, we'll give it one more try," Applejack said, and released the platform, causing Rainbow Dash to flop down on the ramp, dazed herself. Applejack, already at the top of the platform, called out. "Here I go!" She backed off and jumped, this time accurately.

"Wait!" Rainbow said, flailing her front hooves, right when Applejack slammed into the platform at the machine's base. Rainbow was fired up, at easily 80 miles per hour. I looked up, and shouted, "Rainbow!" In the process, I kickstarted the same mask power I had been experimenting with, and blasted the ground, using the Crast to blast me straight up at nearly the speed of sound. Being used to flight, I torpedoed through the air, and attempted to intercept her. However, she was moving far faster than I thought, and slammed me backwards enough to force me to fly with her and break my concentrations. All I could do was tell her to hang on, and wrap myself around her as much as I could. I looked over my shoulder, and the Treebrary was fast approaching. I had no time to react as I slammed into the rail, and completely and utterly destroyed the part of it I hit, and Rainbow was flung up at a high angle, landing on an adjacent rail. I, however, had gone partway through the deck, and finally slid through, and slammed into the ground, and, for the second time today, I was knocked unconscious by pain.

* * *

_As I slept, I dreamt, lucidly. I was in a white expansive plane, and The Mask spoke to me as I was in this plane. "The others We have brought here have been waiting to make an appearance, and We wish to show you Our most recent work." I was pulled into a vision, showing the mask bringing another of the toa, this time, a member of the Toa Hagah, from their homeworld. I witnessed the sudden disappearence of him, as his team fed themselves through a small rock crevace. On the other side, they'd found he'd disappeared. "This being is Toa Pouks, the toa of stone belonging to the Toa Hagah. He will be joining you shortly in Ponyville, where he may or may not stay with you..."_

* * *

As I awoke, on the ground this time, I faintly remembered the dream I had. _'Toa Pouks? I wonder when and where.'_ As I sat up, gasps sounded off all around me. I saw a small crowd of ponies, including Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, surrounding me. Twilight and Rainbow both looked on the verge of breakdowns. "M...Mata N-Nui?" Twilight stammered. "Yes, Twilight? May I ask why all these ponies are around here?"

"Because," Said a voice near my head, "A moment ago, you had no vital signs, and yet, here you sit, conversing with me." I could hear the eccentricity, and the intelligence, in his voice. I turned to a Earth pony, tan in color, with dark-brown mane and tail, smiling strangely brightly at me. "Before you ask, call me The Doctor, and I am, indeed, a real doctor." I then looked back to Twilight, only to get a face-and-arm-full of purple pony. I was forced to sprawl back as Twilight landed on me.

"Don't ever do that again! Please!" Twilight said, crying into my chestplate. I looked up at the "Doctor", and he merely smiled and stepped back. As other ponies from the crowd left, I wrapped my arms around Twilight and sat up. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I'll try not to." She leaned back, and looked up at me caringly, and then... front-hoof-bucked me in the chest, which DID hurt, may I add. "You'd better not." She said, while smiling at me mischeviously. I smirked back, and set her down, and rolled to my feet. I then promptly stumbled down to one knee.

"Easy, cowcolt, You shouldn't even be standing. I mean, did you SEE what you did to that rail?" I looked up when she said this, and noticed what she mean. I recoiled when I looked at the deck. The front rail had COMPLETELY shattered, and there was a 7-foot groove the width of my middle torso in the deck itself. "...well, that, uh, that's a first." I said. They began to chuckle. "No, I take it back, that's a second. I've slammed headfirst into a planet, back when I was still in my android form. THAT left a groove." This warrented further laughter. "That reminds me," Rainbow said, "I, uh, I have to thank you for absorbing most of that blow." I nodded, and forced myself to my feet anyway, and began looking at any other damage I had caused. Luckily, I hadn't done any.

"So, care to explain the new, um, emergency escape in my balcony?" Twilight said seriously, with a little bit of humor in her voice. I smiled embarrassedly, and said, "A combo of 'Rainbow's new plan', a tired Applejack, and a new mask power I was experimenting with. That's how I got into the air in the first place."

Twilight looked intrigued, "And what power was that?" I smiled a bit, and said, "Its actually been considered an 'immoral' mask power, because, Its the Kanohi Crast, Mask of Repulsion."

Rainbow looked straight at me. "How exactly is it considered 'immoral'? It doesn't sound bad. Just, repulsion," She said, questioningly.

"The only reason, I'm guessing here, is that perhaps it repels, like, nature or somthing?" Twilight said to Rainbow, asked to me. "Very perceptive, Twi. Yes, that's why, but it has its uses." As I said this, I repeled the ground again, and flew about 6 feet off the ground, warrenting a few "ooh's" and "Aah's" from the nearby ponies. "Well, now that I'm up again, no pun intended, shall we check on Applejack again?"

Twilight looked at me, trying to hold a straight face at my accidental pun, and said "Yes, let's."

* * *

I was getting further practice with my flight, as I headed towards Sweet Apple Acres for the 3rd time today with Twilight. The whole way there, I levitated using that mask, until I fell on my face from lack of energy, where I walked the rest of the way. Since she alone was limited in her abilities to stop Applejack, I was dead set on intervening and stopping her. If this didn't work, I was considering the use of the Kanohi Olisi, Mask of Alternate Futures, granted I could use it properly, and show her a darker possibility to her future, if she continues her actions. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I will if I must. As we approached her current location, I noticed her buck a tree. She leaned down to pick an apple up, and when she bent back up, she knocked her head against a low-lying branch of the tree, and stunned herself. Twilight, when we walked up, said, "Applejack, can we talk?" Applejack rubbed her ears and leaned forward. I'm assuming when that when she hit her head, she temporarily disabled her ability to hear. Twilight repeated what she said.

Applejack replied loudly, "Can bees squawk?! I don't think so!" Her abstractly loud and wrong response was more than enough to examplify my theory. "No, can we TALK?" Twilight responded back.

"Twenty stalks?! Bean, or celery?!" I merely responded with a questioning look towards her, with one eye brow raised. "No! I need to TALK to you!" Twilight responded even louder.

I couldn't understand the next phrase Applejack said either, but the word "Zoo" does sound familiar. "You need to walk to the zoo?! Well, who's stopping ya?!" I decided to use this time to intervene. "NO!" I responded at the top of my lungs, "SHE WISHES TO TALK WITH_ YOU_!" I prodded her gently with a finger as I said this.

"Oh! Well, why didn'tcha say so?!" She said with a smile and looked at Twilight. "What'chu want to talk about?!"

"Rainbow Dash and Mata Nui dropped in to see me today!" Twilight said, still using the same loud tone. _'Thank Angonce we're away from town. All this shouting would be drawing attention for sure.'_

"That's quite neighborly of them!" Applejack said, not understanding what she meant. "Except about the part where you launched Rainbow and I tried to intercept her, and went 7 feet into a balcony!" I said, and she looked up at me, obviously disappointed in herself.

I sighed, "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound angry." I'm assuming she didn't hear me, as she didn't respond to me, rather to Twilight, moreso.

"Oh... yeah. I wasn't feeling quite myself this morning," Applejack said, still sounding like she wasn't proud at all of her actions.

"Because," Twilight said, walking around to face her, "You're working too hard and you need help!" Applejack looked at her oddly.

"What? Kelp?!" Again, Applejack said a word I wasn't familiar with. "I don't need kelp. I don't even _like_ seaweed." I still didn't understand.

"HELP!" Twilight screamed in her face now, "You need HELP!"

Applejack immediately went on the defensive again. "Nothing doing, Twilight. I'm gonna prove to you, to Everypony, that I can do this on, my, OWN!" She then turned after she had began walking, and promptly ran into that treebranch again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, "She said, teetering off, "I gotta go help Pinkie Pie!"

I pieced everything together, and realized something. "Twilight, if she attempts to help Pinkie Pie, do you think she runs the risk of causing something dangerous?"

Twilight looked up at me, and said, "That's true, but if we try, she may do something worse on accident, you know." That is true. I couldn't lie to myself there.

"Ok, true. Should we just stand by, and attempt to assist if we can?" I said to Twilight, who nodded, and said that we should go back to the library. As such, we did, where I picked up a recent encyclopedia, took my place seated in what was now Twilight's room, and began reading.

* * *

It had been roughly an hour when a knock came at the door. While I couldn't hear what they said, I heard voices, and figured Twilight was conversing with her visitor. I took a nearby scrap of paper, and placed it in my page, where I had gotten to the definitions of "Minx" and "Mitochondrion", as I heard hooves rapidly approaching up the stairs. Twilight rounded the corner. "Mata Nui, we gotta go. Nurse Redheart needs our help." I nodded, bounced up to my feet, and hopped out the window, much to Twilight's surprise, and landed on my feet right beside the pony Twilight had mentioned before, Nurse Redheart, scaring the living Great Beings out of her. We waited for Twilight and Spike to come downstairs, and as soon as they ran out the door, we all took off running after the nurse pony, following her to the Ponyville Confidential Hospital.

Upon arrival, I could see many makeshift tents, more likely from the mass outbreak of whatever had happened to the ponies of Ponyville. We soon found the doctor pony, not the male from before, and she led us to a tent. "We came as soon as we heard!" Twilight said, as she, Spike and I waited by. The doctor, whose name was Medical Miracle, ironically enough, sighed, like she'd been severely overworked.

"Thank you, Twilight, we need all the help we can get." She pulled the curtains back, and I slightly grimaced at the sight. Ponies were all over the place, most green from their necks up, all of them moaning loudly. I remember distinctly thinking, _'It's like the after effects of a large battle!'_

"Oh, no," Twilight said, "What happened?" As she said this, Spike leaned over, and picked up a horridly rancid-looking muffin, that already had bite marks in it, and sniffed it. A small, tubular creature poked out of the muffin when he did this. "It was a mishap with some of the baked goods," The doctor pony said.

"No," came a weak reply, from a bed, where I saw a very sickly looking Pinkie Pie, with a green neck/face, like most the others, "Not baked goods... Baked bads!" She exclaimed, before her face expanded, like she was attempting to hold something back. Shortly after, she leaned over, and... What in Angonce' name did she just do?! That, was truly horrifying. Some foul mixture just came from her mouth. And I suddenly feel my abdominal muscles contracting. I forced myself to look away and hold my breath. I heard from my left, "Applejack!" Twilight was finally ready to end this. I was, too. and I had a plan to do so.

Shortly before we left, I noticed Spike had picked up some of the "baked bads". "Spike, what are you doing with those?" I said, as I looked down at him.

He looked back up at me, "Snacking! want one?" I shook my head no, and grimaced again.

* * *

As we walked for a fourth time to the Apples' Farm, We arrived to see Applejack hanging upside-down from a cart, the base of the cart jammed in a basket of apples between two hills. I chuckled under my breath, seeing how silly she was right now. "Applejack," Twilight said as she walked up, "We NEED to talk." Applejack snapped awake with a start, and calmed down when she was what awoke her.

"Oh, its you, Twilight," She said, yawning, "I know, what you're gonna say, but the answer is still no."

"Not to upset your applecart," Twilight said, most likely inserting the pun, intentionally, "But you NEED help!" Applejack looked around slightly.

"oh, hardy-har," She said, and flailed for a second. "And no, I don't," she added to her previous statement.

Twilight spoke softly, "Here, let me help." Applejack jumped the gun slightly. "Help?! No, thanks!" she said, quite rapidly, and flailed some more in midair. She spent a few moments writhing, wiggling, and squirming, along with slamming the cart back and forth a few times, before I gently nudged the cart slightly with a foot so as to her not noticing. She didn't happen to notice, and looked quite triumphant when she made it. Twilight smacked a hoof to her face, which honestly made a rather entertaining sound.

"I'll prove," Applejack said, after moving her cart near a dead tree, unknowingly, "That this apple, can handle THESE apples." She began to buck the tree a few times, with one back hoof, saying, "Come on, apples," before growing frustrated and slamming it with both a few times, and shouting, "Fall off!"

Twilight spoke up before she could continue to beat the tree. "A.J., I think you're beating a dead... tree." Applejack looked up, towards the tree, to see it completely leave-less and fruit-less.

"I knew that," she said, and walked away from her, in another general direction, and Twilight followed. I waited a bit, before following behind her and Applejack. As I walked up, A.J. was walking away, and Twilight was rather annoyed-looking. "Oh, that pony is as stubborn as a mule!" I heard a strange braying noise, and looked to my right to see another equine-like creature, which I assumed was a "mule". "No offense," Twilight said to the "mule".

"None, taken," He responded slowly and nasally. I walked over to Twilight. "So, how went the attempted assistance?" I asked her as I walked up.

"well, she completely refused our help, and is on her way to Fluttershy's house to help her with the bunny census or whatever." I immediately suggested going there to keep an eye on them, and Twilight eventually agreed on doing so.

As we arrived on her property, Twilight looked up and said, "Mata Nui, do you want to stay here yourself? Not to be rude, but I'm expecting a package of spellbooks to arrive from Canterlot, and I need to be there for them."

I looked down at her, "Oh, its no trouble at all, Twilight. I'll do my best to see what I can do." I bid Twilight farewell, and found a nice comfy spot to rest for a moment. I only had to wait for 5 minutes before my sensors, mostly being a triggered Mask of Sonar, to detect a massive disturbance around me. As I ran out of the clearing, I was met with Applejack running straight at me, after some small creatures. She attempted to jump over me, and her back hooves hit me in the head lightly, and the second they left my head, I assume some reflex of hers went off, and she bucked me in the side of the head at full power as she passed over. I dropped like a rock, for the 3rd time that day.

* * *

This time, I awoke in a bed, at the hospital's makeshift tents, where it appeared most ponies had been cured and went home. As I sat up, I could feel a sharp pain in my head, and I recalled what happened.

"Ouch," I said to no one in particular. It appeared there was no one around me, so I slowly got up, and walked outside. I noticed most the townsfolk... lying on the ground for some reason. I saw Twilight, and tried to run over to her, but fell on my face. She must have noticed, as she ran over to help me up.

"Mata Nui, what happened? Are you ok?!" She hoisted me to my feet with her magic as she said this. I brushed myself off, and looked around again.

"Why's everyone- er, every_pony_ on the ground? Something happen? Aside from me being double-kicked by the worse possible pony in ponyville." I said, severely worried something happened. One of the ponies on the ground stirred.

"The horror..." The first pony lying on the ground said, "The _Horror_!" I had a feeling it wasn't necessarily as bad as she said.

The second mare, lying on her stomach, leaned her head back. "It was _Awful__!_" She called out, then flopped back down.

The third female, stuck on her back this time, looked over, and said,"A disaster! A horrible, _Horrible_ Disaster!" Twilight looked around, and said, "I don't get it." I couldn't remember, but I felt I knew the reason of what had happened.

The first pony ran over to her garden. "Our gardens... Destroyed!" She proclaimed. A sign of rodent rahi...

The second ran to a flowerbed, rather, what was left of one, in front of her house. "Every last flower, devoured!" A sign of herbivorous behavior.

The last pony, still laying on her back dramatically, affixed my belief. "By... B-by... _Them_!" She pointed towards the Town Square, and what a sight it was.

The baby animals called "rabbits" were everywhere. From what I had gathered, they were herbivorous by nature, classified as "rodents", technically, and were prone to being scared easily. It was obvious Applejack, when she went to help Fluttershy, had set them off, and it had basically been a tuned-down version of the Cow Stampede a day before, only Applejack wasn't there to stop it.

"That's it!" I said, "This is where I draw the line!" I turned to Twilight, and continued, "Her insomniac Rampancy has to be stopped, before she severely hurts someone!"

Twilight looked back up at me. "I agree! Enough, is Enough." She looked back into town. "But, uh, perhaps we should help Fluttershy first?" I nodded, and I jogged while she trotted into town.

"Oh, my! Oh, please stop, little bunnies," Fluttershy quietly exclaimed to the "bunnies" everywhere, "No, No! _Please, _let's go home- nu-no! Oh, my goodness!" I decided on a plan of action, that was safe enough for the rahi, and effective enough for the town. I searched in the mask for a few seconds, and found the Kanohi Matatu, Great Mask of Telekinesis, and spread a telekinetic field over the whole town. I pinpointed towards the small creatures with the mask power, and, much to everyone's surprise, the "bunnies" began to float. A few were nervous at first, but most seemed to find it fun, pointing their forelegs forward in a sort of humanoid flying pose.

I walked over to Fluttershy, straining to keep the rahi all in the air, as the mask power was worse than usual due to the number of targets it was being used on. "Fluttershy, where should I take the bunnies to?" She looked shocked, at first, most likely due to the obvious fact that I was causing it, and after a second, she told me to follow her.

We walked all the way to Fluttershy's cottage, I carrying the rabbits the whole time, and eventually, we arrived, crossing the bridge over the stream near her house. "Ok, well, you can, uh, put them in this pen over here," Fluttershy said, walking near a rather large pen. I walked slowly over, and gently let down all the creatures. Once the last one was on the ground, I released the mask power and collapsed backwards, landing on my backside. "Oh, Mata Nui, are you ok?!"

I nodded, and said, "Yes, Flutters, I'm fine," I unintentionally used a pet name, to which she smiled ever-so-slightly, and blushed a bit, "I just need a moment's rest." After I had sat for about 10 minutes, making idle conversation with Fluttershy, Twilight came over. She looked at me, and smiled with a slight sly look to her, and said, "Am I interrupting anything?" I may have slightly blushed, getting what she was aiming at.

Fluttershy must not have caught on, "Oh no, Mata Nui and I were just talking while he rested. Why, something up?" I suddenly remembered I was supposed to go with Twilight to confront Applejack. I also remembered my plan to use the Olisi's power.

"Actually," I said, "Yes, Twilight and I are going to confront Applejack, about the damage she's caused today." Fluttershy nodded at me.

"Ok, then, please set her straight. She needs some rest, and probably help. Just come see me if you need help." She said to me.

"I most certainly will, my dear," I said, "Let us speak later." I pushed myself to my feet, and Twilight and I began our last journey to Sweet Apple Acres.

* * *

As Twilight and I walked into Sweet Apple Acres, we could see Applejack, walking up a small hill in the distance, with a lone apple tree atop it. We made our way over there, only to find Applejack just about forcibly asleep, lightly kicking a tree with her back hoof. "Must... Keep... Bucking..." She said, as she repetitively kicked the tree. "Just... A few... More..."

"Applejack!" I shouted as we topped the hill, and she snapped fully awake for a second.

"Alright, Applejack," Twilight said, "_Your_ Applebucking hasn't just caused you problems, it's over-propelled Pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say, You. Need. Help." As she finished, Applejack finally hit the tree once, good and hard, and the apples of it fell into the baskets at her sides.

"Ha!" She said, "No, I don't! Look, I did it!" Twilight and I turned to observe the whole of Sweet Apple Acres, and what we could see had been completely harvested. However, I noticed the one detail that may allow the Olisi to take Maximum effect. "I harvested the _entire _ Sweet Apple Acres, all, by, my, self!" She turned back to us, and said, "How'd ya like _them_ apples?"

As Big Mac walked up, I put my plan into action, "Well, you're going to hate me for this, Applejack, but I like them about as much as _Those_ apples." I pointed behind me, to a near one-fourth of the acre still requiring applebucking.

Big Mac must have read my mind, as he said to Applejack, "How do _You_ like _them_ apples?" I nodded. Applejack began to babble tiredly and crazily, but I grabbed her head and shook it, preventing her from passing out or the like.

"Applejack, please, forgive me for this." I pressed my forehead to hers, and triggered the Kanohi Olisi's power, and began to show her a possible future, one in which all of her friends disowned her, and the whole town shunned her. It was sad for even me to see, so I can imagine it had the correct effect on Applejack. Eventually, the mask's vision deteriorated, and Applejack and I were moved back to the real world, where she screamed "No!", and promptly passed out. Big Mac rushed to her side.

"What'd'ya do to her?!" He shouted at me, obviously upset at this.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea she'd pass out!" I threw out, apologetically, "I used a mask power to show her a possible future that could occur if she kept her actions up. I had to wait until her mind was in a weakened state, and I knew when she discovered that there was a field left, that would be the case. So, I triggered it before she could pass out, and it turns out she passed out anyways..."

Big Mac nodded, and began walking back to their house, entrusting me with her. I waited, along with Twilight, until she reawoke. "Applejack? Applejack!" Twilight said. I looked over Applejack with her, and Applejack finally opened her eyes fully, making an odd face. She moaned slightly as she awoke. "Oh, good, you're ok," Twilight said, "Now, Applejack, I completely respect the Apple Family ways, you're always there to help anypony in need, so maybe you can put a bit of your stubborn pride aside, and allow your friends to help you." Applejack kept looking out over the fields as she said that.

Applejack sat there, in thought from the look of things, before she finally, FINALLY gave, "Ok, Twilight."

Twilight herself hadn't noticed Applejack had gave. "I'm not taking no for an answer-_what?_" She said, obviously caught off guard.

Applejack put her front hooves together, in a prayer-like motion, and said, "Yes, Twilight. Yes, _please_, I could _really_ use your help.

Twilight giggled a bit, before finally sighing, and I could almost feel a great weight lifted from both her and My shoulders.

* * *

After taking about 45 minutes to gather the whole gang, of Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and even Rarity, we all began to applebuck, where I surprised everyone with a show of strength. I triggered a Great Mask of Strength, the Kanohi Pakari. I then flipped back, landed on one hand, with the power still active, and double-kicked an apple tree, only for it to be snapped in half and land on me. I heard all the others stop and gasp, and, further still sustaining the mask power, I lifted the entire tree off of me, and placed it back on its stump. Then, I thought for a second, before snapping my fingers in successful thought. I triggered the Kanohi Kuponya*, Great mask of Healing, and put my hands to the trunk of the tree. In a few seconds, the trunk had reattached itself to the stump, effectively saving the tree. Rainbow Dash almost died laughing, and congratulated me on the show of random strength.

* * *

We had all spent about two hours, give or take, applebucking and relocating baskets. Applejack, herself, as requested by all of us, had rested in the house for the most of the time. As we walked back up to the house, Rainbow was talking to me about my "Mighty Kick". "Dude! That was still so _awesome_! You kicked that tree a new one!" She exclaimed, laughing. I chuckled as well, and said, "I also _fixed_ its new one, keep in mind." She laughed. We arrived at the house, where Applejack was waiting, along with who I could see was Spike walking towards us down the road.

"Hey girls," She said, "I got some fiine applejuice for you all." She had set out a table wth 7 Bottles of this Applejuice, which I found quite delicious.

"So," I said, casually, "I'm a girl, am I?" I was simply referencing the fact that she'd said "Girls" alone. She grinned sheepishly, and added, "And Mata Nui." I nodded.

"Well," She said, "I can't thank you girls" I cleared my throat. "And Mata Nui," She added with a chuckle, "Enough for all the help. I was acting a... bit, stubborn."

I spoke up, "A bit stubborn my backside." Everyone laughed at this.

"Ok, a might stubborn. And I'm awful sorry. I know the town gave me the "Prized Pony" award, but..." She trailed off, as if not knowing what to say.

"But, what?" I asked, trying to edge her towards answering just barely.

"But the _real_ Reward, is having the six of you as friends." I smiled brightly, as did the other six. Afterwards, we all started on our drinks.

Spike had just walked up, and while he was carrying something, I couldn't see what. Rainbow spoke up, "Man, that applebucking sure made me hungry."

it was now Spike's turn to speak, "And I've got the perfect treat!" He held up an armful of those muffins from before, the kind that made an epidemic out of the town. I had a plan, and I was already attempting to create something using the Mask of Creation.

Pinkie Spoke up, "EW! I thought I threw all those away!" She recoiled a bit. "Where'd you get them?"

Spike's answer was straightforward. "From the Trash!" All the girls, even I, recoiled a bit, and they all exclaimed some varying form of "Ew!" Spike spoke up again, "Just a little nibble?"

I answered him, "You know, getting them from the trash may not have been good, but I _do_ know where they're going," I aimed my new object at him.

He, along with all the girls, looked back, and he said, "Wher- Hey, Mata Nui, what's that?" He noticed the object I was holding.

"It is called a Nyhrah Ghost Blaster," I informed him, "And it does this." I held the trigger, charging the shot, and let go, and the bolt of Light/Spiritual energy struck the muffins. Using the abilities that come with a Ghost Blaster, I shaped the energy into a sphere around the muffins, and launched them into the air at Uncomprehendable speeds, sending them completely out of the atmosphere. All the girls jaws dropped, as did Spike's.

"What, in _the_ Fiddly-i-o-buck was that?!" Applejack exclaimed, and for some reason, I felt the reason to absolutely die of laughter at her response. I proceeded to roll on the ground for the next five minutes, laughing my backside off at that. I must admit, being a god-like being to some, that had to look odd to see me flailing about on the ground. I finally dried my laughing tears, and tried to reply.

"ha ha ha, that, was the best, response, I've ever heard, to anything!" I said, before breaking down laughing again, this time all the girls did so too. We all laughed for a good 15 minutes, before I stood up, slowing my laughter a bit.

"Oh, my thorax. Ha ha, that was entertaining. Anywho, you asked what this was?" I said, picking my Nyhrah Blaster off the ground, where it had fallen during my laughter seizure.

"Yeah, its weird-looking. Like a cannon, but small enough to hold by hand, and firing some kind of weird energy? Do explain." Twilight said. I held it up, looking at the mechanism for a moment, before replying:

"As I said before, this is a Nyhrah Ghost Blaster. They were used by three powerful Toa, known as the Toa Nuva, or rather, one half of them, back in the Matoran Universe. These blasters take in light energy from the nearby area, and combine it with a built-in source of Spiritual energy. The resulting ammunition is a dart-like object" I formed one on the barrel of the gun "which explodes into a puff of energy, and, in this case, the energy is linked to your mind, and it becomes moldable. When I shot the muffins, I molded it around them, and then catapulted them out of the atmosphere." I said, relatively fast, and it seemed that all of them, but Spike, got the idea.

"So the what, does a who, and the when... what-now?" Spike said, and we all broke down again.

* * *

We were approaching the town when we noticed a commotion outside of town. It seemed many ponies had gathered around something. I tried to get a closer look, and was shocked by what I was.

It was a brown Toa, whose Mask, chestplate, shoulder armor, thigh armor, and feet were silver. I instantly recognized this as the calling card of a Toa Hagah, and walked over. All at once, he snapped awake, to find a pony standing on his chest. When he moved, the pony freaked out, and jumped off and back from him. The toa stood up, and looked around, and as soon as he saw me, he must have seen me as a threat, since I didn't look like normal toa. He launched himself at me, and I, being caught completely caught off-guard, was slammed by a roundhouse kick from the toa, and sent flying a good 15 feet. As I landed, I rolled to my feet, drew my sword, and summoned forth Click in shield forme. "Please, I don't wish to fight you!" I called to the toa, who ignored me. He pulled out a shield, with some kind of launcher built in, and a 8-foot spear, with a two-pointed needle-thin blade at the end. He charged, as the ponies in front of him split to the sides and ran, and I bore in for a fight. As he got close, he grabbed his spear closer to the base, and thrust it at me while still a distance away, and I raised the shield. The spear bounced off, and went right, leaving him open. I charged and swung my sword, striking his chest armor, cutting a thin groove, and tearing out some protodermis from it.

I rolled back, but as I stood back up, I could see a circular pattern on his shield spinning up. I recalled this as a Rhotuka Spinner, known to have many random effects, as well as being based off their elements, so I had to do my best to dodge this, in case it was some mutative spinner. He released the attack, and a brown-silver rotating energy disk came flying at me. I quickly rolled left, the spinner just missing my shoulder, and as it hit a tree behind me, I watched it become wrapped in a solid stone binding. _'Ok, I know what he can do with the silver spinner, and I'm assuming his brown spinner just channels his powers further.'_ I resolved for a slow battle style, waiting for the right moment. The toa charged a second spinner, and let it rip at me, which I bashed with my sword. This must have been his normal, elemental spinner, as it merely bounced off, and exploded with a burst of light. He charged me again, this time closing in. He grabbed his spear higher up this time, and struck me in the chest with the non-bladed end of his spear, knocking me back. His weapon lit up, signifying he was triggering his element. I watched as the stone-bound tree behind me was ripped loose, stone, tree and all, and launched at me. I hit the deck, and the tree passed over me, a single twig breaking off, and landing on my head.

The tree had been flying at him, too, and he had to take time to dodge it. I immediately took advantage of this moment, and dropped my sword, pulled my Nyhrah Blaster off of my back, quickly charging it, and firing two shots off. The first one missed, as he ducked backwards, but upon coming up, he was struck with the second. I then used my mind to form the energy into bands on his wrists and ankles, and suspend him in midair. I picked up my sword, and sheathed it, and returned Click to insect form, but instead of crawling under my chestplate, he hopped up on my shoulder; I assume he apparently wanted to learn what this was about.

I walked forward to the toa, and began speaking, "Ok, from here on out, we settle this calmly, and civilly. Now, I want to know, first, what is your name?"

He looked at me, apparently studying me, and spoke in an accent Twilight said sounded "British", "I am Toa Pouks, Toa of Stone, and member of the Toa Hagah. And you are?"

"Now," I said, chuckling slightly, "I can't do that yet. You'll change your tune too quickly, if I do." His eyes went wide.

"Miserix? Is that you?! I'll kill you if it-" I created an energy bind over his mouth for a moment out of residual energy. "Ease yourself, I am not a makuta. I'm... a friend. So, then, any recollection as to how you got here?" I said, releasing the bind from his mouth, and he seemed to play nice.

"Well, I was travelling with my Toa team, through this tunnel, when my team was attacked by Miserix, the maku-" I heard a low-level energy pulse, and suddenly, Pouks had somehow spontaneously formed a Nyhrah Blaster round, and I leaned back, just in time to dodge it. When I noticed his mask was glowing, I jumped up, grabbed it by the back, and tore it off. He gasped loudly, and finally fully relinquished himself. When I noticed this, I released the Nyhrah power, and he fell to his knees as I placed the blaster back on my back.

"Now," I said, still holding his mask, "Be nice for five more minutes, and I'll give you your mask, tell you my name, and let you be on your way." He nodded. "Ok, here." I handed him his mask. He placed it back on, and sighed in relief. He started for his weapon, and I said, "You'd better be sheathing that." He picked it up, held it to his back, and the typical Toa storage system took it in. He did, however, keep his shield out.

"So, what is your name then?" Pouks said with a hint of anger in his voice. I held out my hand in a formal greeting motion, and, with a smirk, said, "Hello, my name is Mata Nui." The second I said this his eyes snapped open.

"Y-...You mean, _the_ Mata Nui? Ruler of the Matoran Universe?" He asked, his voice shaky. I nodded, and almost instantly, he dropped to his knee. "Forgive me, Great Spirit, we haven't been able to trust anyone since Teridax took the universe," He said, quickly. I put a hand on his shoulders.

"Don't worry, I haven't been able to get much battle practice since I got here, anyways. You _certainly_helped there," I said, with a smile, and he looked at me.

"How exactly _did_ you get here?" Pouks asked me, and I replied with, "When Makuta Teridax finally conquered me, he placed my conscience into the mask of life, and fired it out of the universe. My old body."

Pouks' mind appeared to have been blown, and as such, I figured he's a more simple type, not a major thinker. He looked down for a moment, then back up. "Do you know where we are, exactly?" He asked me, this being another expected question.

"Well, I can tell you this:" I said, " We are on the planet of Equestrus Magna, and this is Ponyville of Equestria. That's basically all I know."

He looked up. "So, this sun, this is the same sun we viewed inside... You?" I shrugged, honestly not knowing that fact, and I could see the pieces coming together. "Well, I have one more question. What, in, well, your name, are we supposed to do?" I shrugged and shook my head, as I didn't know yet. Without that experimental body, I'd stand no chance against teridax.

"Well, I can tell you, your appearance has been foretold, by the Mask of Life, which resides upon my head at this moment. The mask itself brought you, and so far, 2 others to this world. We may be the only chance this world stands," I said, and Pouks nodded. I then turned to the girls, "Well, considering we don't have anywhere to place him, are any of you willing to bunk Pouks for the night?"

Twilight walked up to him, "Well, I will, I'm always willing to learn new things, but first things first, introductions. My name is Twilight Sparkle." She held up her hoof, and He, still kneeling down, grabbed her hoof and shook it.

Next was Pinkie Pie, and I felt sorry for Pouks at this point. "Himyname'sPinkiePieyou'reanothermetalmanIneedtoth rowyouAPARTYWHOOHOO!" And like that, Pinkie was gone. Pouks' jaw hung limp, and I merely said, "Yes, she's like that all the time, and no, it isn't that bad."

Then, Rarity walked over. "*ahem* Hello, my name's Rarity, and I'd merely like to state, your, uh, armor, its color is so... Drab." Pouks recoiled slightly at this proclamation towards him.

"Hey!" He said loudly, "I happen to like and treasure my armor! This silverplate states me higher than the average toa, and I have the power to prove so." He backed his claim with a self-inflicted chest thump. Rarity didn't seem to like this outburst, and picked him up with magic, and dropped him. As he fell, I could already see his mask at work, and I came to the conclusion he has a Kanohi Hansvask, Great Mask of Emulation, capable of copying friendly or foe powers, as He had just copied Rarity's magic, and proceeded to use it against her.

"Whoa! Twilight! A-are you picking me up?!" Rarity shouted, as she was lifted into the air. Pouks Spoke up, "Actually," He let her go, and she dropped on her flank, "That'd be me." He finished with a smirk.

"How DARE you, to disgrace a lady like tha-" He somehow managed to cut Rarity off with a glare that, if looks could kill, she would have simply exploded into red mist. It was kind of funny, as his glare was matched by a smirk.

"Silence." He said, and she began to speak again. His face changed to a much more serious one. "I said _**SILENCE**_!" This stopped everyone. "Don't start again," Pouks finished, his voice dangerously low. I walked over, and banged him on the back of the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" He shouted at me, obviously over the fact that I was his previous god-figure. I didn't really care, but I did demand respect for my friends.

"I may be accepting to the fact that you aren't treating me like a god in the flesh and Protodermis, but I will request that you respect my friends, otherwise I might just turn _you_ into a pony, hmm?" I said, knowing very well that the Mask of Life could give me the power to transform Pouks. He stopped, eyes widened slightly, but looked down, and said, "Fine." He turned back to Rarity. "I'm sorry for treating you that way, we started off on the wrong foot... rather the wrong hoof. Either way, I'm sorry." He knelt down, and held out his hand. Rarity looked at me hesitantly, and I nodded at her.

She gently placed her hoof in his hand. "Ok, I'm sorry as well, it was very unladylike of me to say something so rude about your armor." She looked truly apologetic, so I took her words, as did Pouks, in truth.

Rainbow Dash flew over next, as Pouks stood up. "The name's Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria! Nopony is faster than me!" Pouks seemed to observe her shortly.

"Well, then, tell me," He said, "What's the fastest rate of speed you've ever flown at?" Even I had no idea where he was going with this one.

She thought for a moment, and replied, "Well, I've broken the sound barrier, does that say anything?"

Pouks smiled, "It does: you _aren't_ the fastest flyer in the universe, it appears." Rainbow's jaw dropped at this point. Pouks continued, "I say this for a legendary hero, Toa Lewa Nuva. He has gone mach 5 before to save his friend, Gali, from falling to her death."

Rainbow seemed to not understand. "What does 'mach' mean?" Pouks shook his head.

"I was expecting a self-proclaimed speed demon to understand a speed term." Rainbow crossed her forelegs in an irritated fashion. "Mach 5 means he was travelling at 5 times the speed of sound, which means he has you beat 4-fold." She seemed really, _really _shocked at this, as she almost fainted at this acknoledgement. She fluttered to the ground, incredulously surprised.

"Wow." Was the only word she could find for now. "Just, wow." Pouks smirked triumphantly.

I noticed Fluttershy had ran off, not wanting to introduce herself to Pouks, it appeared. Timid, as always, albeit cute- _'Watch your chain of Thought, Mata Nui,'_ I thought immediately afterwards. Applejack walked up, "I swear the girl's afraid of her own shadow. Come to think of it, how come she responded nicely to ya, and not so nicely to... pokes, is it?"

"Pouks," He said, "Its more throaty than that. Any who, nice to meet you. You seem to be a nice, down-to-earth being." He knelt down, grabbed her hoof and shook it. He wasn't, however, expecting her to be so strong, and, as she had to Twilight on day one of my Equestrian adventure, she shook the very thought processor out of him.

He shook his head afterwards. "Great Beings, you're strong. You may have knocked my brain loose." He rapped on his head a couple of times with his palm. Applejack giggled a little at this, and apologized. I chuckled and looked over, noticing everyone had introduced themselves.

"Well, with that taken care of, does anyone want to volunteer to give Pouks a temporary home?" I said to our group of friends. Twilight's front hoof shot up.

"I will! I want to ask him _so _many questions right now, this'll give me the perfect chance to study him!" She bounced over to him, almost in a Pinkie Pie-like manner. "Like, how exactly did you use magic?" She berated him with the big, soft eyes the females on this planet could so easily pull off. He looked at her almost nonchalantly, and it seemed he didn't care about said "soft eyes".

He did, however, answer her question. "That would be my Kanohi Nakala**, Great Mask of Emulation. It allows me to copy another beings' ability, and temporarily use it like a mask power. Hence" Still having the power active, he picked Twilight up, flew her around his head 3 times, and set her back down, as an example. She was a bit dizzy from having been thrown around like a ragdoll, but shook her head, and stared in wonder at Pouks' mask. She grabbed his hand with magic, and began to drag him away, questioning him on something to do wih synthesizing the magical cortex field, or something like that. I cannot grasp the concept of Unicorn Magic yet.

"Well then," I said to the remaining 3 girls, "This has been quite the day, hasn't it? I mean, I fought a deadly urban legend, I flew to save a friend, and in the process, carved a groove in Twilight's tree, tried to help the town from a peril of poisonous pastries, fought and made friends with another toa, and sent him to what can be compared as an interrogative hell. What can possibly happen next?" Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all laughed at this.

* * *

The remainder of the day was spent like any other, I simply returned to the Treebrary with Twilight and Pouks, who had been tallying up the number of questions she had asked him(He was at 367, so far), and took my place at the couch, gladly falling into the warm, tender embrace of sleep.

* * *

**_*Kuponya - Translation for "Heal" in Swahili_**

**_**Nakala - Translation for "Copy" in Swahili_**

**_Note: Any unnamed mask powers, such as these two, shall be translated, by a root word (healing - heal) into Swahili, as it sounds close to the typical maori-based bionicle names for objects/people._**


End file.
